Interact - September 2020 (Special Edition)

tcaretnI A service of Interaction International Vol. 14 No. 1 Sept. 2020

Contents — Restarting the Engines — One Source, Two Streams — Flow of Care Revisited — MK Education: Then and Now — Conversations on Care — MK Research: Foundations — Closing the Loop

September Issue

Letter from the Editor

Mission Statement: Interact is a forum for dialogue and the exchange of ideas on current issues in MK/TCK care and education in order to promote a greater flow of care for MKs/TCKs by all those whose actions impact their lives.

Article Submission: Authors may submit articles electronically or by mail to Interact.

Please inquire about topics/issues/research that may be of interest for upcoming issues of Interact as well as formatting information.

The views expressed in Interact do not necessarily reflect the views of Interact or of Interaction International.

If this is the first issue of Interact that you’ve read, welcome! If you’ve been reading Interact for a long time, welcome back! Interact is returning from a long hiatus. Over these years, I’ve often been asked about the possibility of Interact returning. Well, I’m pleased to say, “It’s back!”; this is the issue that relaunches it!

Interact will discuss important issues, provide relevant information, promote global conversations, and provide solutions and strategies as well as share resources and research. It will equip you to act on behalf of today’s MKs/TCKs and better serve the MK/TCK community. Whatever your role, each issue of Interact will have something for you. Check out the Index of Articles on the Interaction website (interactionintl.org) to see the topics Interact has covered in the past.

In this first issue, we look at where we’ve been, where we are, and start the conversation about where we need to go. We will look at foundational issues such as who MKs, TCKs, and CCKs are (Van Reken), at the need for a global flow of care (David and Michael Pollock) at trends in MK education (George and David Durance), at issues and resources for MK caregivers, and at the important role of MK research in shaping our actions (Wickstrom and Blomberg). This issue will be longer than future issues, but this length was needed to lay a foundation on important issues. I hope this issue brings you up to speed on the discussions that have been going on and better equips you to add your voice to the global conversation. We hope that you feel welcome and included. We welcome your feedback, ideas and your article submissions as well as your sharing resources you value or research that you’ve done.

I welcome you to this global conversation through the pages of Interact. I hope you will be equipped, empowered, and encouraged to make a difference in the lives of MKs/TCKs for their good and God’s glory.

Blessings,

Feedback and Input: Interact welcomes feedback concerning articles as well as ideas for the magazine. Please send it to interact@interactionintl.org. Interact reserves the right to edit and publish these letters/emails for space and clarity.

Reprinting Material: You must have permission before reproducing information published in Interact. Back Issues: an index of previous articles published in Interact is available on the Interaction website (www.interactionintl.org). Physical copies of back issues of Interact can be purchased. Contact Interact for details at interact@interactionintl.org Publisher: Interaction International Editor: Janet Blomberg (janetblomberg@interactionintl.org) Design and Layout or Graphic Designer: Kelly Pickering Consultant: Irma Henderson Copyright 2020 INTERACT a digital publication Interact is published quarterly (March, June, September, and December) by Interaction International. Correspondence for Interact should be sent to: P. O. Box 863, Wheaton, IL 60189, Phone: 630.653.4156, Email: interact@interactionintl.org

Restarting the Engines Ruth E. Van Reken

I live in Indianapolis, home of the famous Indy 500 motor car race. Each year (except this one due to COVID-19!), 250,000 people gather and wait with great anticipation to hear the iconic words blare from the loud speaker, “Gentlemen and lady (or ladies depending on the year), start your engines!” At that command, the sound of roaring engines fills the air, the racers follow the pace car for one lap and then zoom away.

No one knows how the race will turn out, but one thing is certain: every car that begins will need time in the pits where a team changes the tires, refills the gas tank, and tweaks whatever settings need adjustment to make the car run even better than before. Without these moments of refilling and recalibration, the car will never make it to victory lane. Pit stops aren’t a sign of weakness but wisdom. They don’t mean that the original design or strategies were wrong, but racing teams know that resting on past success alone is not enough to ensure a successful future. There is always more to learn and refine for the journey ahead. After the tune-up, the driver restarts the engine and returns

to the active racing lanes with one goal in mind: to see the checkered flag come down as he or she crosses the finish line knowing the race is successfully done.

Time for MK Care Recalibration?

If we think of the work we do with MK care as another type of race, we can see this time of Interact being relaunched as a good time for our own pit stop. In order to continue running the race before us with endurance as Hebrews 12:1 admonishes us, let’s take a moment to see the strengths of our race so far. Then, let’s consider what new obstacles or opportunities might be ahead and what adjustments or recalibrations we might need to make to run an even stronger race to the finish line in the future.

MK Care Phase One: Where We've Been Looking back, it is right to feel thankful. Before the first International Conference on Missionary Kids (ICMK) held in Manila in October 1984, no mission organization that I know of had any type of formal September 2020

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MK care programs. Before then, many in missions didn’t believe that MKs had any particular issues that might relate to their globally mobile lifestyle. In fact, most discussions or articles on this topic presumed that the privileges of their lives were many (which they are) and, if MKs focused on them, these privileges would overshadow any perceived challenges.

After ICMK Quito (1987) and ICMK Nairobi (1989) which followed the initial conference in Manila, perspectives began to change. While the main focus of ICMK Manila centered on considering new options for MK education, the conferences in Quito and Nairobi created more awareness of the wider arenas of care needed to give meaningful, holistic care to MKs. At this point, many mission organizations created new positions so MK care providers could begin to find ways to meet some of the identified needs.

Interact magazine began in 1991 to continue developing new understanding and awareness of the gifts and challenges that often come with the MK experience. With Janet Blomberg as editor, this publication became a “pace car” for our community as many previously unexplored topics came to light through the ground-breaking articles published there.

Go to https://interactionintl.org/wpcontent/uploads/2019/01/Interact-Article-Index-bySubject.pdf and check out the back issues.

Basically, it seems the race that is MK care has completed Phase One. This includes:

Then something akin to a flat tire happened. Soon after David Pollock, one of the pioneers in the MK Care movement, died in 2004, the voice of Interact also became silent. It looked like the final pit stop for this important pace car, even though other vehicles continued rounding the track and running as well as they could.

Now, as Interact prepares to restart its engine and rejoin the race, it’s time to consider more closely the changes happening in missions and what adjustments we may need to make in order to better complete MK Care Phase Two. God gives each generation something fresh to do that builds on the past while accomplishing his purposes for the present and preparing for the future. This is a good time to stop and listen to some of what might be God’s new vision for MK Care personnel to consider.

While the previous generation (mine!) is moving off the stage, God will use the next generation taking our place (many of you!) to provide new authors, new articles, new ideas, and new thinking to accomplish his purposes for what is still ahead.

Where We Are Thankfully, the pit crew has found a way to fix the flat tire and Interact is rejoining the race. As with any pit stop, these silent years have not negated the past but many new aspects have been developing in the field of MK Care that will now enable our pace car to guide us more clearly in the future.

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Awareness of the topic and the issues involved has turned into action.

Organizations and international schools have developed helpful programs.

Families have been educated in how to make wise decisions regarding education and transitions for their children.

Discoveries During Our Pit Stop As the world in general has dramatically changed in the last few decades, so has the world of missions.

When ICMK began in 1984, most missionaries were Westerners and MKs generally went to some type of MK school where virtually all students were MKs. Often, these were also boarding schools. Mother and father usually carried passports from the same country, they frequently served a lifetime in one country overseas, and most went out under clearly defined mission agencies.

Think of what has happened since then. One of the most significant changes in these intervening years is that now we have international Christian workers coming from all over the world as well as going all over the world. John Barclay has done an amazing amount of research and writing on the exploding number of missionaries and MKs who are coming from New Sending Countries (NSCs) such as India, Korea, Singapore, Nigeria, etc. and how they may soon outnumber (or already outnumber) those coming from the more traditional Old Sending Countries (OSCs) such as England, the United States, Canada, and Europe.

When we look at what were our traditional Westernbased MK schools, we see that many have become some form of an “international Christian school” or simply another international school. A lower percentage of the students in these schools are MKs than before while local or expat children from other sectors fill the seats. Educators and staff who were once all expats now include local staff as well.

Homeschooling, internet classes, and local schools have all reshaped the MK educational options across the board for these MKs from OSC. On the other hand, for MKs from NSCs, the challenges of receiving basic education in ways that encourage family stability as well as academic learning are still great.

Online courses or homeschooling may not be offered in their language. Many NSC MKs attend poorly funded boarding schools in their home countries while parents serve in remote areas. Michael Pollock and others organized a pre-conference workshop

called “The Shepherd’s Table” before the recent Synergy conference for MK Care providers and educators in September 2019. The purpose was to discuss what could be done for the larger community of MKs now in the tent. That is a major, positive recalibration of MK care occurring in our current pit stop.

There are also changes in many family demographics. Increasingly, mom and dad may not carry passports from the same country. Others may share a passport but have different racial heritages.

Instead of a lifetime in one host country, many missionaries now have shorter careers in general and often live in more than one host country. Some go to foreign lands for the sake of Jesus, but they go either independently or in some other nontraditional way with no formal title but with similar hearts and sense of calling.

“For anyone to impact the world, they must first navigate their own individuality, but those who grow up traversing different different cultural worlds often lack language to undertake such exploration.”

Christopher O’Shaughnessy (Arrivals, Departures and the Adventures In-Between, 2014) These changes mean that today’s MKs represent countless nationalities and come from vastly different home cultures. There is no longer one national or racial prototype for who is an MK. What new challenges and opportunities do these things make for our community? To have a meaningful discussion about all of these matters, it’s important we begin by clarifying and enlarging our language and concepts so they more accurately reflect these changing realities. Without this, our discussions can only be confusing or not include all who need our care. A few questions to start us off.

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Who are MKs? It seems almost a ‘no brainer’ to ask for a definition of what it means to be an MK since those initials stand for “missionary kid”. Doesn’t the term alone define MK as being a child of a missionary? you wonder.

Perhaps, but perhaps not. A prior question might be, “In today’s world, who is counted as a missionary?” Do we include only children whose parents go our under official mission agencies or as independents specifically for the purpose of ‘sharing the gospel of Jesus’? If so, what about children of those who do not go overtly as missionaries yet pursue international business or other international career because they seek to follow the Great Commission and go into all the world as salt and light for Christ into places traditional missionaries are not allowed? Where and how do children in these families and circumstances fit into our discussions on MK care?

In addition to this population, I have met young people whose parents are officially missionaries who say to me, “You know, I’m not a real MK.” I ask, “You’re not? Why?” They reply, “Because we never left our passport country.” Are they right?

When MKs say things like this to me, I tell them they are wrong. In my thinking, if their parents are 'official' missionaries of any kind, they are MKs. This includes those whose parents work with different local ethnic communities or even work in the organization’s headquarters for their entire career. But then, when telling that story to others working in MK care, they have disagreed with me. They say these children are correct that they aren’t MKs if they never went outside their country! So, who is right? Are MKs defined by parental roles or geography?

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This is a critically important question if we are to think holistically about our global community. John Barclay states that India has more MKs than almost any other country, including OSC countries.

However, because they have so many different subcultures and languages all within the large expanse of the country of India, many Indian MKs never leave their passport country yet change cultures as radically within the borders of India as do MKs who go to totally different countries.

“ … these non-internationally mobile MKs, including ones in far distant places from many of us, have too often been a hidden community. With their growing number, however, we can no longer afford to ignore them.”

Ruth Van Reken Sadly, these non-internationally mobile MKs, including ones in far distant places from many of us, have too often been a hidden community. With their growing number, however, we can no longer afford to ignore them. We need to consider with more intentionality how being a “domestic MK” compares and contrasts with "international MKs,” including any particular challenges or opportunities they may have in this context.

If, on the other hand, we agree with those who say these children aren’t MKs if they have not traveled to another country, then do we have a name for them?

Again, what about the children of those whose parents work in non-traditional mission roles? How do we include all of these in our MK care vision or do we simply agree with those who tell me that they don’t belong at all?

first attempt to identify commonalities as well as distinctives between TCK sectors looked like in MK Care Phase One.

Who Are TCKs? By the early 1980s, Dave Pollock began using sociologist Ruth Useem’s term third-culture kid as another way to look at MKs. In her writings, Dr. Useem refers to TCKs as “children who accompany their parents into another culture.” In 1986, Dave wrote his now classic TCK definition “A Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents’ culture …” Before the TCK term became part of our language, each sector or group whose members were raising children overseas thought they were the only ones who had particular realities to deal with, such as questions of “Where is home?” and “Where do I belong?” Families in the military thought it was somehow related to their kids being “military brats.”

The foreign service called themselves “foreign service kids.” Missions called our kids “missionary kids” or “MKs.” Those in the corporate world often called themselves a name connected to their parents’ career such as “Aramco Brats.”

Once it became clear that all of these groups shared the experience of going into another culture with their parents, it became easier for people like Ruth Useem and Dave Pollock to look for common themes.

This is how Dave’s classic TCK Profile of the common benefits and challenges from this experience developed. Once these common characteristics were identified, each sector could also look to see what was specific to their group. For example, one additional challenge in the missions community is that no matter how humanly successful MKs are, if they have given up their faith, that ‘failure’ often negates any other sense of success in a way that isn’t an issue for other sectors. At any rate, this is what our

Third Culture Kids: Potential Commonalities and Differences ©Ruth E. Van Reken, 1996 all rights reserved

Unfortunately, in those early days of looking at this population, neither Useem or Pollock included in their definitions that the reason parents were going into other cultures related to a career choice they had made rather than for some other reasons such as permanent immigration. In addition, they didn’t mention that this other culture was also in another country. In those early days of intercultural awareness, likely both were assumed.

In today’s world, as more families and children are globally or culturally mobile for many different reasons, this has led to endless discussions of who can be counted as “true TCKs.” Does Dave Pollock’s classic TCK Profile relate equally to children of refugees as to the child of an ambassador? Does it apply to children of minorities who go to school in another culture other than the one they return to at home each evening? Maybe.

Maybe not. How do factors such as choice, power, privilege, or economic status impact those who have experienced what Donnyale Ambrosine calls a ‘culturally fluid’ childhood?

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Over time, the term third-culture kid has begun to lose its original meaning in the general public. In many places, it has become a catchall phrase for all children who grow up or grew up with any sort of international or cross-cultural background during childhood. Some researchers have begun to challenge the concept of TCK itself as the concepts of culture are changing. They say that the number of variables of those claiming to be TCKs have become too numerous for the type of research that needs to be done. These discussions are fair and necessary, but for now this is where we have been and are.

Are MK and TCK Completely Interchangeable Terms?

While I am all for MKs realizing their story is part of a greater whole, clarity in how we use these terms is important. If we agree that anyone who is the child of a missionary is an MK, then “domestic MKs” (those who are children of home missionaries) are not necessarily traditional TCKs if their parents didn’t go to another culture.... Ironically, those whose parents serve in some form of international tentmaking ministry may not identify at all with the MK term, but fully embrace the TCK language. We must also remember that all traditional TCKs are not MKs. Children of diplomats, international business, and military are also bona fide TCKs. It’s getting complicated!

While some may feel such a discussion is nit-picking, it is important so that we do not inadvertently create a dialog that essentially excludes domestic MKs by presuming that the TCK Profile in its entirety applies to all MKs. Conversely, since all TCKs are not MKs, we need to be sure that what we are calling ‘TCK’ characteristics in our MKs are common to traditional TCKs of all sectors rather than sector specific to us as a missionary community. Full disclosure: As we begin to look towards recalibrating MK Care for the future, I am presuming that MKs raised in any context mentioned above—internationally, domestically, invisibly—are included. The question then is “How do we take better care of all MKs no matter the context in which they live it?”

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MK Care Phase Two: Where Do We Need to Go? Having assessed the past and present in our pit stop, the question remains, “How do we prepare to continue running an even stronger race going forward than we have run to this point? How do we remain active drivers in the car as we have been instead of fans in the stands?”

“ … God gave this type of internationally mobile childhood to missions to think about and study long before most of the world at large knew it was happening…. The point being that those in our community need to continue to think, study, and share what we have learned as well as to learn from others. We must not abdicate our voice or place in the larger world even as we care for our own MKs.” Ruth Van Reken That is an important question if we consider that God gave this type of internationally mobile childhood to missions to think about and study long before most of the world at large knew it was happening? The earliest writing I have seen on this topic came from Allen Parker who was then the principal of Woodstock School in India. In 1936, he wrote his dissertation for his master’s degree at the University of Chicago on “An Analysis of the Factors in the Personality Development of Children of Missionaries.” In this paper, Parker mentions many characteristics of what is now part of the TCK Profile.

TCK pioneer, Dave Pollock, went to Kenya and worked as a dorm parent at Rift Valley Academy where his interest in studying the TCK experience blossomed. The point being that those in our

community need to continue to think, study, and share what we have learned as well as to learn from others. We must not abdicate our voice or place in the larger world and conversation even as we care for our own MKs. The first recalibration we need to do is to tweak the TCK definition so that it more properly reflects those initially studied. By clarifying that term, we then have meaningful language to look at some of the questions we raised in MK Care Phase One regarding MKs per se. In time, it can help us compare and contrast the TCK part of our experience with others who have other types of cross-cultural childhoods.

Hopefully, this will begin to move the conversation from the question, ‘Am I a real TCK or not?’ to seeing what universal issues might be for all children among many cultural communities. In a world where questions of identity are becoming endemic, perhaps we can help answer the ‘But why is this such a global happening?’ as we share lessons learned from our particular story and studies.

For all these reasons, Michael Pollock and I suggested the following update in the third edition of the Third Culture Kids book: “A traditional thirdculture kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her first eighteen years of life accompanying parents into a country, or countries, outside either/both parents' passport country(ies) due to the parent’s choice of work or advanced training.” Academic researcher Anastasia Lijadi clarified the definition for a research project and has defined TCKs for the Oxford Bibliography this way.

“Third culture kids (TCK) are individuals who follow their parents on their overseas assignment, relocating to one (or more) countries for a period of time with an option to either repatriate or stay abroad if permitted.”

We realize some you just passed out as it seems we are messing with the holy grail to make any changes here! Some have called our TCK book ‘The TCK Bible,’ but I guarantee you it is neither infallible nor unchangeable! Take heart in what Ruth Useem

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herself said when Dave Pollock and I tweaked some ways she had described things for our first edition and sent that portion of our writing to her to ask if she was okay with our changes. Dr. Useem replied, “I am a social scientist and I realize that over time ideas change. Go ahead.” And so we have!

“ … we must also accept that in today’s world, while the terms MK and TCK are useful to our discussions, they are no longer enough. We need to enlarge the tents of our language to include others who are also trying to define and normalize their experiences, often wondering if they are or are not ‘true TCKs.’" Ruth Van Reken Once we have even reluctantly allowed a refinement to be made to our most beloved definitions, we must also accept that in today’s world, while the terms MK and TCK are useful to our discussions, perhaps they are no longer enough. We need to enlarge the tents of our language to include others who are also trying to define and normalize their experiences, often wondering if they are or are not “true TCKs.”

Who are CCKs? Since 2002, I have been using another model in the larger community of TCKs where I most often circulate. For years, people had been telling me they related to the characteristics of the TCK Profile, particularly in terms of questions of identity, but they had had quite a different life experience than what I described for TCKs. They wanted to know if they were TCKs or not?

In response, I asked them to tell me their story.

Always there was some cross-cultural component to it, even if they did not grow up in another country or have parents with an international career. Perhaps their grandparents were immigrants, or parents were bi-national, even though they had grown up primarily in one country. I never knew exactly how to answer them about their feelings of “TCKness” because I didn’t want to exclude people. However, how could we study all of these things under one name when there were so many variables?

The tipping point of feeling ‘I have to do something to try and figure out a way to look at this more holistically’ came after one came after one frustrating day at a local Indianapolis school. Educators there wanted to tout their “diversity” program as multicultural but seemed to disdain the topic of TCKs. They felt TCKs had nothing to do with diversity or multiculturalism since the TCKs at their school were primarily white. How could they be “diverse”?

When I returned to their school the next day, I explained I wanted to re-frame our ongoing discussion through a different model and language than either of us was using. Perhaps then we could look at the topics of multiculturalism/diversity and third culture kids through a common and fresh lens instead of presupposing we already knew what we were talking about. And so was born the concept of cross-cultural kids (CCKs)—children who interact meaningfully with different cultural worlds for any reason during their first 18 developmental years of life. An adult CCK (ACCK) is one who grew up in any type of cross-cultural experience.

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Here is an expanded model of what I first scratched out in 2002. Certainly, it is not exhaustive for defining all cross-cultural childhoods but perhaps a beginning point.

CCK Subgroups and Subsets: The Cross-Cultural Kid Model Expanded ©Ruth E. Van Reken, original model 2002, expanded model 2017, all rights reserved

In this model, the cross-cultural aspect is not defined by geography but by experience. What is the reason for their cross-cultural interactions? In many ways, this is simply an expansion of how the TCK model itself grew. In addition, as you can see from the above sample, each of these larger circles have subsets which can also be studied individually. In the end, these findings can help us compare and contrast different experiences within each particular type of experience as well as adding more understanding to the whole. My hope is that, with continuing discussion, we will find what is shared across these cross-cultural experiences and what is more specific to each type so that, again, we can have a more efficient and effective conversation about what is going on in our world.

A most unexpected thing happened when I initially started to use this model in my presentations. First, many listeners found themselves invited to the conversation personally whereas before they could only be observers. On the first day I used it in that Indianapolis school, one of the educators listening came up with that “Aha!” look of excitement on his face. He talked about how difficult his move from Boston to Indianapolis had been for him and his children, but they didn’t know why it had been worse than they expected. Now he could see his children were domestic TCKs and could understand some of the reasons it had been so hard for them as Boston had a very different culture than Indianapolis.

The second time I used this model was for the diversity program of a large international corporation.

During the Q&A period, a woman asked if someone could be in more than one circle? Since I hadn’t considered that possibility before, I asked her to explain the question. She told us that she and her husband were both Indian but from two different areas of the country. Neither spoke the other’s first language so English was their language at home.

They immigrated to the U.S. where they became not only immigrants but part of a minority community. In time, they went to Europe for the husband’s job with an international corporation. When her children went to school in the U.S., it was an entirely different culture than the world they met at home each night.

Where were her kids in this model? Unbelievably (to me at least), they were experientially in five, possibly six, circles: children of cross-cultural parents, potentially domestic TCKs before moving to the States, then they became immigrants, third culture kids, minorities, and educational CCKs. Thus, I began to see not only new ways of naming experiences but the growing cultural complexity so many children face, including our MKs of all backgrounds. It also gives us a model to look at the growing cultural complexity of many of the MKs and other TCKs in our community of faith.

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Think of it. Everyone we have already mentioned can be included. Domestic MKs are right there with other domestic TCKs who, for whatever reason, interact with different cultural worlds around them without leaving their country. Internationally mobile MKs are part of the traditional TCK group. For international MKs, their cultural voyage takes place between cultures in different countries. For domestic MKs, they may also go to different cultures in their country as the Indian MKs do, or they may navigate between the missionary subculture their parents are part of at the home office and the larger dominant culture surrounding them. For the “secret MKs,” they can simply rest in the traditional TCK circle or any other they would like to claim. In addition, we look at this model and realize we can no longer think of our MKs in one- or two- dimensional levels. Many now come from multicultural families or are of mixed racial heritage. Other MKs may also be international adoptees. In some countries, MKs are not only obvious minorities but may be bullied or experience extreme racism, that I, as a white child in Nigeria, did not face in the same way. This means as we work with our MKs, we need to take time to hear their entire story. Children who have been adopted may have significant attachment issues which multiple cycles of separation and loss (often inherent in the MK experience) may exacerbate. Are there ways to create more physical and emotional stability for those MKs? What about our MKs who go to school in a Westernbased educational environment but return to a much different environment at home? What about MKs who may face racism in their host countries or, in some cases, may blend into their host culture by appearance and be shocked to face racism in their home country if they happen to be a minority there?

How well do we support mixed racial heritage couples and their children not only in our community, but when they may face challenges in the surrounding culture?

I also believe by using this larger model we can encourage MKs of all backgrounds to realize they belong to a bigger whole. Often, they feel like “my 11

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situation is so unique, no one can possibly understand me.” Instead, they can begin to see that their lives were designed and given by God to prepare them to live fully and well in a globalizing world, for God’s sake and their joy.

If we help them see that being made in the image of God as relational, emotional, creative, intellectual, volitional, and spiritual beings is their primary identity rather than their experience of being an MK, they can understand how much they do share in common with others and realize what they have learned in their specific story has application for others even if the contexts are different.

Looking Farther Ahead But stay tuned! As I indicated above, this emerging discussion is not yet complete. Even as I write, some researchers are suggesting that it’s important to recognize the generic roots of this third culture term as a way of life formed when people of different cultures relate one to another and form an interstitial, or third culture, space. If that happens, the TCK definition itself needs to be updated to include all who grow up navigating different cultural worlds.

That, of course, would include all I now list as CCKs. Others suggest keeping the TCK term more “pure” in a way that reflects its historical roots and then using other language such as CCK or a new term to recognize all who grow up cross-culturally— including traditional TCKs. Time will tell how these new discussions play out, but either way, we can see the reality of the huge cultural changes in our world and how/why we need to stay involved in the discussions. It’s important to help us keep giving the best MK care we can, but also as those called to go into all the world, what we are learning for ourselves has increasing relevance for many of the people with whom we work.

What we must never do as a community in these most interesting and energizing (to me at least!) conversations is be caught in defending the past of, for me, a term I made up. There are going to be further pit stops ahead where we can keep growing and, again, we want to be part of moving forward not

getting stuck on the track! What is important is that by staying involved in these global discussions, we can continue to see more clearly the changes that will continue to go on for our MKs and their care.

“I have come to appreciate that TCKs and CCKs may have more to offer the world than we probably realize….

We’re not the answer to all the world’s problems…. But we do benefit … from growing up ahead of our time.

‘Ultimately a cross-cultural childhood is becoming the new normal across our globe … rather than something that only affects globally mobile kids.”

The issues TCKs face are now, and will increasingly be, faced by everyone.

TCKs are really previews of coming attractions.”

Christopher O’Shaughnessy (Arrivals, Departures and the Adventures In-Between, 2014) Meanwhile, during this current pit stop, members from our community have added other adjustments for the race ahead. Those at the Shepherd’s Table meeting formed an association called Global Third Culture Hub: Care, Advocacy, Resources, Equipping.

You will hear more from and about their plans for how to care for all MKs the world over through future editions of Interact. Groups like Daraja are seeking to find new ways to help disciple MKs and other Christian TCKs and help them develop the gifts of this lifestyle for fulfilling their place in God’s kingdom. Still others are out in the wider world, looking for MKs who may have been wounded or gotten lost in their journeys.

engines, as they keep the finish line in mind … that day when they, like those who have gone before, hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

Ruth E. Van Reken Ruth Van Reken is a second generation third-culture kid (TCK) and mother of three now adult TCKs. She is co-author of Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds (third edition), and author of Letters Never Sent, her personal journaling seeking to understand the long-term impact of her cross-cultural childhood.

For more than thirty years Ruth has traveled extensively speaking about issues related to the impact of global mobility on individuals, families, and societies. She is the co-founder and past chairperson of Families in Global Transition. In addition to her two books and many articles, she has written a chapter in other books including Strangers at Home, Unrooted Childhoods, and Writing Out of Limbo and co-authored Life in Motion, a study of how people in the Bible experienced transitions. In 2019, she received an honorary degree (Doctor of Letters) from Wheaton College for her life's work .

Have a look at Ruth E. Van Reken's books:

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One Source, Two Streams Dr. David C. Pollock

(Adapted from an article in Interact)

Recently, I watched a spring bubbling from the ground along a footpath in the woods. It formed a small pool and flowed out into two streams that tumbled down a hill. In the natural scheme of things, the two would ultimately meet each other.

In their flowing and growing they would nourish, refresh, cleanse, sustain, and, overall, give life.

Springs and rivulets give me a significant metaphor for my life as an individual and for the Body of Christ. One source and two streams: these blend into one flow to give life.

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One Source The Apostle Paul captures the focal point of eternity and time as he writes, “Christ is the image of God”—Creator, Sustainer, Head of the Body, Reconciler and Perfecter (Col. 1: 15-23). Thinking Christianly begins and ends with a comprehensive view of Christ. It is this view of recognizing who He is that is key to fulfilling Peter’s directive to be “clear-minded” (1 Peter 4:7). Peter did this in responding to Jesus’ question in Matthew 16:15, “Who do you say that I am?” The answer to that key question lays the foundation for the remainder of Peter’s admonition to “those scattered abroad … Be clearminded, self-controlled so that you can pray and love one another deeply.” The progression is from thinking and believing rightly to choosing, acting and loving rightly.

James captures the concept of thinking rightly with his admonition to seek godly wisdom (James 1:5).

The key issue in that wisdom is clearly perceiving this person, Jesus. Once established, the reasonable conclusion is that we become doers and not hearers only.

He pushes us to recognize that sin is not only doing the wrong, but it is knowing what is good and not doing it (James 4:17).

John, in his first letter, indicates that the identity of a believer is determined by observing if he thinks (believes) rightly about Jesus, chooses right and loves right. He builds his criteria on the basis of the person of Christ

Himself who is Light, Life and Love. John’s introduction to this book (1 John 1:3) states, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard (clear-minded) so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.”

Jesus is the Spring, the Source of whom His Father said, “This is my Beloved Son … Listen to Him” (Luke 9:35). We must listen to Jesus when He prays (in John 17:21-23), “Father, just as you are in Me and I am in You, may they also be in Us so that the world may believe that you have sent Me. I have given them the glory that You gave me, that they may be one as We are One … I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know You sent Me.” Could it be that this unity is how we think, how we choose, and how we love? He is the Source and sets the flow of the two streams. Listen to His commands.

believer on behalf of another person for the other’s good. It is the demonstration of God’s character in the people He has reconciled to Himself and to each other. Love is the stuff His people are made of.

“It has been my conviction over the last four decades of my work in missions that member care is by its very nature the tangible expression of the love of Christ for us and of our love for Him. It is not simply a program or a plan; it is the product of who we are because of our relationship to Him.” Dave Pollock

Stream One “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another. By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” “If you love Me you will obey what I command.” “This is My command: Love each other” (John 13:34-5; 14:15 and 15:17).

The irrefutable evidence of God’s supernatural intervention in human affairs confronts a lost mankind through the action of one

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Stream Two “As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you” (John 20:21). “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go (and as you are going) make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:18-20).

The two streams, the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, are inseparable.

Sometimes in our zeal to be responsive to one we ignore or minimize the other. The Great Commission cannot be fulfilled without obedience to the Great Commandment. The evidence to the watching world is the fulfillment of His Command.

Is it possible that the Great Commission is more easily obeyed than the Great Commandment?

Defining love as action on behalf of another, even an enemy, may be a sticking point for all of us. The good Samaritan was faced with

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expenditure of time and money, inconvenience, readjusting priorities, and perhaps even disdain from the one he rescued.

Would it be easier, less demanding, to be a priest or Levite slipping by to do some teaching or preaching or to perform some act of worship in the synagogue?

Our struggle in the mission’s community may not be dissimilar from that of the travellers from Jerusalem to Jericho. Perhaps it related to their religious position.

Perhaps they had religious tasks to perform that could not be ignored. Perhaps they had a great commission to obey and could not allow themselves to be sidetracked. Jesus’ evaluation shakes me to my roots. I can recall too many times when a task I perceived as obedience to the Great Commission preempted obedience to the Great Commandment.

Failure to respond to the Great Commandment removes the most convincing piece of divinely appointed evidence that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that we are His disciples.

Dave Pollock Failure to respond to the Great Commandment removes the most convincing piece of divinely appointed evidence that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that we are His disciples.

But there’s more. It leaves a weaker brother or sister open to discouragement, failure, and brokenness. It makes lonely coworkers vulnerable to attack. It undermines relationships and diminishes effectiveness. In missions, much of the attrition with its waste of people and resources is readily traceable to our failure to intervene appropriately at the right places in the life of the missionary, the family as a whole, and with the children. It is important to remember that obedience to the Great Commandment in the mission’s context is not simply a matter of pragmatism and damage control. It is obedience to His command.

How do we navigate both streams?

The starting point is full-hearted acknowledgement of the biblical mandate and unreserved obedience to the Source. Thinking rightly leads to choosing rightly and flows readily to acting rightly. The Samaritan immediately evaluated the situation and took action to correct the problem. The action was both immediate and long-term in view of both rescue and recovery.

Had he been there sooner, he might have intervened to be preventive and saved everyone grief and pain.

Love is preventive as well as therapeutic. We start by identifying the points where intervention can be preventive, recognize the places where care and comfort are required, and plan for the therapeutic when required.

“In the missions’ community, care of personnel is the fulfillment of our mandate and the natural expression of our fellowship. It is … more than just protection against financial loss or safeguarding our investments. Such care is not an event, nor is it necessarily automatic.

Rather, it is an intentional, planned, and ongoing flow which occurs throughout a missionary’s life….” Dave Pollock

The Flow of Care If we listen to the needs and issues expressed by experienced personnel, the details of the flow of care will increase, be refined and, in the process of change, will be modified and customized. The menu below gives a starting point.

Prefield: Recruitment - “honesty in advertising” is important. We don’t know all that these new missionaries will face, but the known factors, sacrifices, etc. should be identified and considered.

Screening - careful evaluation of the person, of his/her preparation, of the family/its dynamics, etc.

Orientation - time and money are usually the enemies of proper prefield orientation which should include personal issues, interpersonal skills, cross-cultural skills, constructing a learning framework and specialized issues for parents, educators, shorttermers, etc.

Placement - giftedness (placing people where they and their gifts fit) and consideration of the family/seasons in the life of the family are important preventive moves.

On-Site: Orientation - should be directly tied to previous orientations/training and include reviewing transition and cultural adjustment as well as culture and living specifics.

Placement - giftedness and “the seasons of the family” are still issues that must be consistently considered even when placement changes on the field.

Support - developing a caring community to mentor/encourage, provide access to counselors, and provide help/resources for culture/language acquisition, professional development and predeparture preparation.

Re-entry (Entry for some TCKs): Agency - making key personnel available, coordinating reception and career counseling for those leaving.

Others (family, friends, and churches) - assisting them in developing expectations and providing for their initial living needs.

Reentry/transition seminars - for those who are returning and exit interviews for everyone (whether or not they are returning overseas).

Continuing Follow-up Care: Providing support groups, materials and personnel / services.

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“Care is defined … as the actions of one person intentionally responding to conscious or unconscious needs of another for their well-being, protection or enhancement. Care may be proactive, preventive, or remedial; it may be direct or indirect.

“Care” is a broader concept that “counseling” or “therapy.”

Glenn Taylor (Enhancing Missionary Vitality, 2002)

The concept of the flow of care was the theme of the first International Conference on Missionary Kids in 1984. It was adopted by the Family Liaison Office of the State Department and the Foreign Service Youth Foundation soon after. Many in the international business community are interested as well. They want to improve their bottom line by increasing efficiency, effectiveness and minimizing unnecessary attrition.

For us who flow on the crest of two streams from the same Source, there should be no question about our enthusiastic participation. The Great Commission and Great Commandment are inseparable. To develop a flow of care requires cooperation among administrators, boards of directors, support personnel and organizations at significant points of intervention. A “managed care” approach in order to facilitate the “flow of care” is not a far-fetched concept when we realize how much is at stake and see how responsive it is to the basic issues of the will of God. “Father I pray … that they may be one as We are One.” “A new command I give, love one another …” “By this shall all know you are my disciples … ” “And as you go … make disciples … teach them to obey all I commanded you ... I am with you always.” Do it!

Author

Dr. David C. Pollock Dr. David C. Pollock founded Interaction and served as its Executive Director of Interaction until his death in 2004. He traveled extensively as a passionate advocate and speaker on behalf of MKs/TCKs as well as an author and consultant addressing the needs and care of MKs/TCKs and missionary families. In addition, he served on the faculty of Houghton College in New York. He co-authored the book Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds (third edition) with Ruth Van Reken. He was the cofounder of the three International Conferences on MKs held in the 1980s (Manila, Quito and Nairobi). Previously, Dave and his family served at Rift Valley Academy in Kijabe, Kenya with Africa Inland Mission.

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Flow of Care Revisited Michael Pollock

Historically, the idea of the Flow of Care (FoC) stemmed from the vision of the single Source of wisdom, justice, righteousness, and love in the person of Jesus Christ, out of whom flowed the Great Commission and the Great Commandment as you can read in Dave Pollock’s original article. My father spoke and thought from an ordained pastor’s perspective and his vision included Peter’s letters to the Jewish diaspora. After the Judean War of AD 66 dispersed the early followers of Jesus, Peter was writing from Rome to those who had fled from Jerusalem to what is modern-day Turkey. This third-culture community was very much in the process of “relating their societies or parts thereof” 1 to people of multiple cultures. Peter calls on them to care for each other in a variety of ways, stressing the values of humility, generosity, unity, patience, fearlessness, peace, compassion, hospitality, and love (I Peter 3:8-14, 4:8, and 5:14, and II Peter 3:14-15).

Additions To this conversation I would add that the term Flow of Care also has a strong root in what some people term the Great Compassion found in Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 25:31-46).

Jesus gets excruciatingly specific when he talks about what love for one another looks like: feeding the hungry, giving a drink to the thirsty, clothing those without, sheltering the homeless stranger, looking after the sick, and visiting the ones in prison. He promised when we do those things for the least of his brothers and sisters, we do them for Him. Jesus modeled whole person care; meeting spiritual, physical, emotional, mental, and social needs in the Kingdom among us until the perfection of the renewed world is manifest.

I remember walking in the woods with my father shortly before leaving for China in 2003. Many times, we had spoken of Christ’s words, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

However, this time the conversation was in the context of my father releasing his son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren to cross the globe to where SARS was still active. My wife Kristen and I hoped to live out Christ-like care for teachers, students, and families in the international school context. As a good father, he wondered, “Who will care for you and for the grandkids?”

His concern was at the heart of the flow of care concept.

Showing a father’s love, he encouraged us to serve others and to participate in the kind of community that seeks and values God’s care for us, self-care, and communal care. He encouraged us to be part of a community that addresses the needs of the most vulnerable equally with those with the most power and resources. It is imperative that the “least of these” includes the children of those who cross cultures in response to the call of Christ if we are to be consistent with news that is truly good.

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A Target A flow of care for third-culture kids, adults and families is less an exact model as it is a commitment to provide hands on, practical care for the whole person, throughout his whole life journey that demonstrates and points to the love of Christ. This is what Francis Schaeffer was referring to in his classic book, The Mark of the Christian. That is not to say that there are no models for this care, as several have been developed. Dave Pollock worked with Kelly and Michele O’Donnell to create a member care model that in its newest iteration describes seven spheres of member care. Master care is essentially God’s care for us; then, the model moves outward from Master Care to Self- and Mutual-Care, Sender Care, Special Care, Network Care, Sector Care, and Humanity Care 2 (see model on page 20).

In considering the scope of a flow of care, it is reasonable for various entities and persons to have an area of focus and expertise. However, we must remember that a flow of care is not only for other Christians. If Christians have an ethos of loving even our enemies, then it is consistent that we look out for the interests of every person.

Consider the UN report that said in 2019 there were 272,000 people currently residing outside of their passport countries 3. In the spirit of my father’s question in 2003, who will care for these people and their children?

With a broad scope in mind, a flow of care addresses whole person, whole life care for cross cultural and mobile populations.

When individuals and organizations provide intentional, practical and personalized care to themselves, their families and team members, what is created spills over into multiple venues and can be reinforced through networks. This effect can be observed with the original FoC concept in the mission’s community. It has worked its way into the State Department, international business HR departments, international schools, and care-groups for the military. When Ruth Van Reken and I were working on the third edition of the TCK book, Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, we heard from all kinds of people who had adapted ideas for the TCK flow of care into various communities, including the hearing-able children of deaf parents.

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Dave’s original flow of care4 for third-culture families walked through the full transition process from recruitment to retirement. A sequence for thinking through the fundamental features of the FoC is included in Dave Pollock’s original article and works off of the Transition Model popularized and now revised in the TCK book, Growing Up Among Worlds 3rd Edition.As families and individuals adjust, they move through the stages of Involvement, Leaving, Transit, Entering, and Re- involvement. The core elements in the FoC include detailed attention to Recruitment, Screening, Preparation/Pre-departure, Departure, Arrival, Field Life, Pre-departure, Reentry (or entry for some TCKs), and Ongoing Support 5.

ICMK Manilla (International Conference on Missionary Kids) provided an initial, key focus on the flow of care. Up until Dave’s death in 2004, he promoted the outworking of these concepts and concrete approaches, including promoting ongoing conversations with experienced crosscultural workers and care providers in third-culture communities. So why are we still discussing what needs to be done?

Four Barriers A seamless flow of care is not easy to achieve nor to maintain, but there are several trends which are working against current progress: false sense that “all is well” and that all that needs 1. Adoing has been done or is being done by “someone else.” Shifting expectations between those sent, the sending organization, churches and support organizations leave gaps that no one is filling. of the evolving needs and challenges in the 2. Ignorance third-culture experience. With globalization, there can be a sense that transitions are “not a big deal” and that moving between cultures, countries and continents is fairly simple. Complicated politics and resulting conflicts, shifting centers of sending countries, and global issues like rising sea-levels and pandemics create new strains on resources, planning and contingencies. One of the changes in field life is an increase in the back and forth nature of international work, with families and individuals choosing to do more frequent travels between “home” and “work” cultures. To my knowledge, research has not caught up with the impact of this on children who experience increased mobility. There are many other examples of holes in our knowledge base.

that expresses itself in exhausted care 3. Care-fatigue personnel, reduced executive planning, and under budgeting. I recently heard a church leader lamenting the loss of commitment among missionaries, considering that some missionaries used to pack for the field in their coffins. That kind of one-way-planning may have been lauded in the past and might simplify a member care scenario (yes, that is tongue in cheek) but surely does not free us from the injunction to love one another. Supporting member care personnel and HR departments adequately is not a luxury; it is best practice and simply the right thing to do. steep increase in churches as sending 4. The organizations along with the high turnover in mission member care departments means that there are often willing, caring people with little training and preparation for the task. Developing a vision and understanding of the elements of the flow of care task takes time, training, study, and experience which also involves the budgeting of time, personnel, and funds.

The foresight of member care succession planning is also critical as good care will have a strong relational component and needs time to develop during a handover process.

Achilles Heel In 2015, Cigna Life Insurance Company surveyed over 2,700 employees of Fortune 500 companies working in over 150 countries. The weakest point of the transition process was identified as pre-departure from international assignments and support in the reentry process. Barely half of the companies had a repatriation program and only 20% of the companies tracked their employees after they had returned to their passport countries.6

Hopeful Signs There is a growing sense that this is a Kairos time in which new relationships are being forged between third-culture care providers locally, nationally and globally. Leaders of care-based organizations for cross-cultural workers are looking for new ways to partner and collaborate with one another to close the gaps and increase the quality of care in the third culture. Groups like Safe Passage Across Networks (SPAN) have developed best practices in international schools and are developing certifications for those who will be trained.

In September of 2019, a group of MK/TCK care providers gathered in Pennsylvania representing TCK care organizations across Europe, Asia, India, Korea, South America, the US, and Canada along with two organizations with workers from “everywhere to everywhere� on the planet. Our task was to consider forming a community of care providers who would work together on TCK care, advocacy, resources, and equipping. At the end of three days, the Global Third Culture Hub was birthed and continues to move forward together through the challenges and restrictions of Covid-19. Since September, the group added two more members representing crosscultural workers from China and West Africa.

Multiple conferences such as MKCS, MKES, SHARE, Global Member Care, EuroTCK, FIGT, and AERC gather cross-cultural workers, care providers, and TCKs to share experiences, expertise, and best practice. While Covid-19 currently challenges efforts to gather in person, the shift to online meeting may actually enhance ongoing communication and collaboration.

While missionary-sending communities seem to do better with reentry/TCK entry on the basis of anecdotal evidence, many MKs/TCKs speak of a lack of support in transition or during separation from their families during college. There is often a huge support gap as these MKs/TCKs leave university or post high school training and move into adult life. I have also heard many crosscultural workers talk about a lack of support in reentry, debriefing, and re-involvement /retirement in their passport countries.

Kelly O’Donnell, Global Member Care Model Seven Spheres (2016)

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Questions to Answer As we consider how the flow of care must change and adapt in 2020 and beyond, I think care providers need to answer some important questions:

1.

How does the flow of care address larger societal issues such as abuse that has not been dealt with (particularly but not exclusively sexual abuse) as well as racial injustice and discrimination in third-culture communities?

2.

Whose voices are missing from the discussion table around the flow of care? What perspectives are needed for a truly global conversation and collaboration?

3.

How do we bring greater parity in care between those with greater experience and resources and those with less experience and fewer resources? Whose needs are “slipping between the cracks”?

4.

How might we better engage experienced crosscultural workers and TCKs themselves as the bridges “between worlds” in the third-culture, care community?

Conclusion

“Member care is important not because missionaries necessarily have more or unique stress, but rather because missionaries are strategic.

They are key sources of blessing …

Member care is also important because it embodies the biblical command to love one another. Such love is a cornerstone for mission strategy. As we love, people will know that we are His disciples.”

Kelly O’Donnell (Doing Member Care Well, 2002)

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Jesus said the Kingdom is at hand, within and among you.

That Kingdom is not political, militaristic or wealth dependent; it is based on love, the kind that makes a person willing to lay down his/her life for others. Peter, writing to a rag-tag group of essentially war-refugees, reminded them that they don’t belong to this world, that they are resident aliens in exile, and that they are to continue caring for each other—loving one another deeply.

Like them, he reminds us that this is our powerful testimony to those who do not have an obedient faith in Christ.

The early church looked out for each other’s needs, spiritually, yes, but also mentally, emotionally, relationally, and materially. If we are going to be true students and followers of The Way, we must press on to do the same.

Our current global pandemic crisis has increased the layers of stress and challenges facing cross-cultural, global workers and their families. It is also an opportunity for us to re-engage with the concept of the flow of care, cultivating new growth out of powerful roots that will produce nourishing fruit that will last.

Michael V. Pollock Michael V. Pollock serves as the Executive Director of Interaction International Inc. He is an international educator, author, presenter, consultant, and coach. He founded Odyssey in China and Daraja in the U.S. which focus on young adult TCK care, equipping and advocacy. He is currently working with other TCK care leaders to establish a global third-culture resource, training, and advocacy hub. An ATCK himself (U.S. and Kenya), he worked in China for nine years as an international school principal and student development director. He has presented globally on cross-cultural education, parenting, and transition. Through coauthoring Third Culture Kids: Growing up Among Worlds (the third edition), Michael promotes a thriving life for people moving and living cross-culturally.

Have a look at the book Michael Pollock co-authored with Ruth Van Reken.

1. Dr. Ruth Useem’s description of the third culture: “we began to use the term ‘third culture’ as a generic term to cover the styles of life created, shared, and learned by persons who are in the process of relating their societies, or sections thereof, to each other. The term ‘Third Culture Kids’ or TCKs was coined to refer to the children who accompany their parents into another society.”

TCK World (http://www.tckworld.com/) 2. O’Donnell, Kelly and Michèle Lewis [2016, December]. MultiSectoral Member Care: Engaging Our World as Global Integrators. Journal of Psychology and Theology, Volume 44, (No. 4), pp. 303–314.

4. Pollock, David C. [1997, October]. Developing a Flow of Care.

Interact, (Vol. 7/No 1).

5. Pollock, David C. [2002, September-October]. Developing a Flow of Care and Caregivers, Mission Frontiers, “From Surviving to Thriving.”

6. 2015 Global Mobility Trends Survey: Cigna Global Health Benefits® (CGHB) and the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) https://www.cigna.com/assets/docs/newsroom/886091-globalmobility-trends-study-brochure-final11215.pdf

3. UN website: Migration. https://www.un.org/en/sections/issuesdepth/migration/index.html#:~:text=In%202019%2C%20the%20n umber%20of,world%20population%20has%20also%20risen.

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MK Education: Then and Now George Durance and David Durance

Last month, Pope Francis appointed the son of evangelical missionaries (an MK) to the position of Vice-Prefect of the Vatican Library (Vatican, 2020).

Born to Canadian-American parents, raised in Germany, graduate of a well-known MK school near Basel, Switzerland, married cross-culturally to an Indian, fluent in many languages, a noted scholar and academic with credentials from the world’s leading universities, he continues to leverage his MK advantages of linguistic fluency, cultural adaptability, and personal resilience.

Reflecting on several decades of involvement with MKs, it would be easy to write at length of former students who have gone on to succeed in every sphere of life. Is their commendable record a statistically significant correlate

of their heritage and more specifically of the education and care they received from a community that supports and resources the mission’s movement? It is an interesting question, but a more urgent one is at hand: “How can the Christian community best support the education of MKs in the years which lie ahead?”

One thing is certain: the education the new viceprefect received at his MK school would not serve him or the MK population well today. Times have changed and the rate of change is increasing. Considering this, what opportunities and challenges lie ahead for those engaged in MK education?

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Assumption #1: Crises Accelerate Trends Crises are inevitable and a reminder to us that we live in a redemption-longing world. COVID-19’s impact on education is the subject of much discussion, and rightly so. The numbers (as of May 10, 2020) indicate that the pandemic is impacting approximately 1.3 billion students in 177 countries, which is about 90% of the world’s student population (UNICEF in Wikipedia, 2020). It will be years before we are able to assess adequately the social and economic cost of this disruption. If the current crisis continues and closures remain into the autumn and beyond, it is hard to see how hardwon resources can be preserved without some long-term damage to the existing infrastructure.

However, this article assumes the primary impact of COVID-19, like so many other crises, is that of an accelerator. Trends which were already underway will gain momentum as the pandemic imposes changes that would otherwise have been implemented incrementally. It is therefore critical that the missionary community re-envision MK education, not to cope with COVID-19, but to adapt to long-term trends whose horizons are now months away rather than years.

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Assumption #2: Global Disciple-making Remains a Pressing Mandate The means and methods of global mission are changing dramatically (cf., Blöcher, 2020; Joshua Project, 2019; Knight, 2017). Nevertheless, two constants remain. The first is that churches will continue to commission and send Holy Spiritempowered disciple-makers to the nations. The second is that these missionaries will continue to have children who need support and care. A hundred years ago more than half the world was unevangelized. Today, it is less than 30%, but the absolute number has grown to more than two billion people. During this period, the number of missionaries has increased eight-fold from a little over 62,000 in 1900 to over 420,000 today (cf., Knight, 2017; Joshua Project, 2019). While the growth rate of international workers has plateaued in recent years (due in part to the emergence of strong national churches), missiologists continue to project a modest increase in international workers through 2050. As long as the church embraces Christ’s commission to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, there will be a need for MK education and care. The challenge today is to employ a continuous revisioning process, and COVID-19 has heightened the challenge by accelerating trends which were already causing concern.

Assumption #3: Families are Most Important in Determining Educational Outcomes It is well known that socioeconomic factors are highly correlated with student achievement across the world (cf., Machebe, et al. 2017; Reardon, et al.

2019). Anna Chmielewski (2019) analyzed 30 large scale assessments over 50 years covering 100 countries and 5.8 million students. She found that the “socioeconomic achievement gap” is increasing even as the world becomes wealthier and education spreads to the less financially able.

Given the well-documented correlation between wealth and achievement, how is it that MKs, raised in modest socioeconomic circumstances, attain academic levels associated with children of more privileged backgrounds (e.g., Durance, 1996)?

Research indicates the answer lies in the family’s attitudes and values. When researching the impact of class in England, Williams (2010) found that “parents’ attitudes were most important [for success], making more of a difference than schools themselves.” She found that upwardly- mobile parents had a high regard for education and were consequently involved in their children’s educational activities.

In other words, there is a return on investment.

Behavior, motivation, and test scores all improve as the student senses “the people who love me the most care.” All types and all ages of students do better when parents are involved and the more involved, the greater the benefit. Christine Jax, quoting Harvard professor William H. Jeynes, reports that “... parental expectations have the largest effect on student academic achievement.” Professor Douglas B. Downey of Ohio State University agrees, claiming that expectations are particularly effective “when parents combine responsiveness and warmth with their high expectations” (quoted in Jax, 2013; cf., Waterford, 2020).

the real cause of the achievement. MKs have done well because their parents valued education, even to the point where dearly loved children were permitted to attend a boarding school at serious financial and emotional cost. Nurturing love, high expectations, investments of time, and prioritizations in the limited budget all contributed to ensuring the missionary child was “privileged” and motivated to achieve in ways not predicted by their parents’ socioeconomic status.

The “ministry first” and “ministry at the expense of my marriage and children” scenarios remain a problem in the missionary home, just as the focus on job or vocation remains a problem in the church and society at large. However, if it was a disproportionate feature of these families in the past, in our experience it no longer is today. In addition to this, it is hard to imagine any other group of children receiving more prayer and more expressions of community concern than the MK. While MKs do not always welcome this attention, it reinforces in their mind that education is important and that people, even God Himself, care about the learning process and results.

We remain optimistic about the educational success of MKs going forward because we remain optimistic about their parents and the on-going support of a wider community. Anecdotal evidence suggests that missionary families have more children, lower divorce rates, and a higher percentage of children who graduate from college. The most encouraging fact about the role of parents in the success of the child is that the value choices they make to support the child do not require more income, more resources, or more options. Involvement, interest, investiture of time, and expressions of love, concern, and hope are not derivatives of socioeconomic status.

Therefore, while achievement is associated with higher socioeconomic status, wealth is itself a correlate and consequence, while value choices are

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Trend #1: Modern Missions and Therefore Modern MKs are Ethnically and Culturally Diverse The assumption is that the number of international Christian workers serving cross-culturally will grow modestly over the next two decades. As a result, there will be at least as many MKs needing educational services thirty years from now as there are today. However, the single most remarkable fact about the ongoing missionary community is not its growth, but its diversity. This distinguishing feature demonstrates itself in three ways: where missionaries call “home,” where they serve, and what service they provide.

From Where?

Latin Americans, Asians and Africans have now joined Europeans and Anglo-Americans in the global mission’s cause. In 1900, Christians in Europe outnumbered the global Christian community 2 to 1. By 2017, there were more Christians living in both Africa and Latin America than there were in Europe. By 2025, there will be 1.25 billion Christians living in Africa (Earls, 2016).

As economies strengthen in these areas of the world, it is only logical that the percentage of missionaries will continue to rebalance in favor of the east and the south. By one estimate there will be 700,000 global missionaries in 2050, up from 430,000 today. It follows logically that the largest contingents will come from Asia and Africa (cf., Knight, 2017).

The impact on MK education is literally visible in the classrooms of our schools. In fact, MK educational programs are one of the best ways to obtain a visual representation of the changed ethnic landscape in modern missions. Schools continue to implement curricular and co-curricular changes to accommodate the needs of students from various parts of the world. The trend to ethnic diversity is now so well-established that it is misleading to speak of it as something “new.” While educational

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providers have been stretched to adjust, the results are encouraging, even though most schools known to us are still clarifying ways to turn the challenges of diversity into opportunities which inspire and enhance the learning environment.

To Where?

Thirty years ago, when the Iron Curtain fell, we wrote to over 40 sending agencies asking their leaders what impact the fall would have on the number and nature of MKs in our region of the world. About half responded with the comment that we could anticipate twice as many students needing service in about six years. Re-assignment and new deployment were the watchwords of the day. Our school immediately began a major campaign to expand physical resources and staffing. Almost exactly six years later, the number of MKs rose as the agencies predicted. It was a simple case of extrapolation: at least twice as many missionaries would be serving in the former Eastern Bloc region, so the school should anticipate twice as many MKs. The investment the school and the mission’s community made was a major step of faith. When we decided to raise funds and rebuild the campus to accommodate students whose parents had not yet been recruited, to say nothing about deployment, one board member wept saying, “I can see what an amazing blessing these new facilities will be to MKs in the future.”

What are we as providers and supporters of MK education “seeing” by faith today? Opening new frontiers is a characteristic of the missions’ movement, not a passing fad. It is time once again for the MK supporting community to think prayerfully and carefully about what God is doing, and to act nimbly and boldly to gather and deploy the resources which will be needed.

And where will they be needed? That raises another question: “To where are missionaries now being sent?” Until recently most missionaries, and therefore MKs, lived in “developed” and “reached” areas of the world. As Knight (2017) put it, “… there

are plenty of Christians to meet the world’s spiritual needs, enough money to meet the world’s physical needs, but it is all poorly allocated and not mobilized strategically in the hands of those to whom it has been allocated.”

The future “base” of global mission will almost certainly be in large urban areas and especially those urban areas which are home to unreached people. The real jungle today is concrete: 55% of the global population resides in cities; by 2050 it will be 70%. By extrapolation, this is where our MKs will be and where MK educational services should be concentrated.

Doing What?

Over the last two centuries the western church has focused on church planting as its primary method of fulfilling Christ’s commission to make disciples, and this continues to be an important missionary endeavor. However, with the emergence of a strong, vibrant, reproducing church in many countries, local churches have increasingly assumed responsibility for church planting. For cultural and linguistic reasons this makes sense.

Today, the global church’s involvement in church planting is more frequently supportive in nature and related to teaching, consulting, mentoring, and advising. Will this shift impact the ethos of MK support services?

Trend #2: The International School Option While the missionary community has been expanding and becoming increasingly urban and ethnically diverse, the international non-missionary community has similarly changed. Two centuries ago, foreign service departments established schools for the children of embassy staff. A century later multinational companies expanded their operations to every region of the world. Like the diplomats, international businesspeople desired instruction for their children equivalent to the education they would have received in their passport country. By the end of the 20th century a series of economic and technological factors converged to create a period of intense globalization. The impact on the nature and provision of education was revolutionary.

Twenty years ago, 1,000 English language international schools existed. Today 4.5 million students attend over 8,000 international school.

The pre COVID-19 expectation was that there could be as many as 16,000 schools and 8.75 million students by 2030 (Wechsler, 2017). Wechsler reports that, “… more than 20 cities in the world have at least 50 English-speaking international schools each, such as Dubai (which has more than 250) and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates; Beijing; Shanghai; Bangkok; Tokyo; Singapore; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and Madrid. Cost factors aside, these rapidly multiplying schools are a realistic option for families, particularly now when their sending agencies are increasingly deploying them to major cities.

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It is easy to see why these schools are an attractive option for MKs. Acting almost like a neighborhood school, they provide a type of education that aligns with what these parents desire for their children. It develops linguistic skills, a strong English-language core, and an international perspective. It provides globally-recognized leaving credentials, a broad, well-rounded curriculum (which includes music and athletics), and activities such as a Model UN. These schools offer state of the art labs for science and computer science, small class sizes, a problemsolving, student-focused pedagogy, engaged parents, and attractive facilities. These advantages are often enough to persuade missionaries to find creative solutions to the problems associated with finances and a (stridently) secular world view. For many missionaries today who are not involved in a local language intensive ministry, such as church planting, or who are not anticipating that their children will attend a local university and settle in the foreign country, the loss of local language fluency is an acceptable price to pay for all the other assets the school offers. And, just as the missionary finds the international school attractive, these schools in turn find MKs attractive because the students are typically fluent in English, “wellbehaved,� and likely to have parents who become involved in the life of the school.

Trend #3: The National School Option The 20th century is usually remembered as the century of monstrous social experiments like National Socialism and Communism. While both still cast a shadow over the world, another revolution took place which has had a greater, more enduring impact: it is the educational revolution that brought literacy to most of the world.

In statistical terms, from 1950 to 2000 the percentage of children enrolled in school worldwide increased from less than 50% to more than 67% and the illiteracy rate for those 15 and older dropped from 44% to 20%. This impressive achievement is somewhat reduced by the fact that the population explosion during this period resulted in the absolute number of illiterate people increasing from 700 million to 860 million (Browning, 2019). Primary school enrollment grew from 200 million to 670 million during this 50-year period, secondary from 40 million to 400 million, and tertiary from 7 million to 90 million (Meyers, 2019). Added to this stunning achievement is the educational advances associated with informal education.

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Out of this mĂŠlange emerged an educational initiative which represents another option for MKs. Those parents serving in Europe (post World War Two) always had a local school option for their children. However, until the global revolution began in earnest, local educational options for MKs did not exist. Today, they often do, and include private schools which cater to the needs and aspirations of businesspeople and professionals. These schools are of particular interest to MKs because these schools pursue international standards and provide a leaving credential that enables a student to attend a university abroad. This means that expatriate Christian workers living in large urban areas may very well be able to send their children to a national school, and in some cases, a Christian national (but private) school. TeachBeyond is currently working with local providers to foster the growth of this option and an attractive variant is discussed in greater detail below under Trend #5.

Missionaries may be attracted to this type of school if their child is likely to live in the host country for many years. Exposure to a national school provides an unparalleled insight into the local culture. It is also typically inexpensive and likely to create pathways into the local community. MKs and these national-international schools are attracted to each other because of a shared desire to perfect English.

While the facilities may not equal those found at international schools funded by embassies, they are often more than adequate, especially in Asia.

Trend #4: A Presuppositional Disconnect There are at least two, non-monetary reasons why missionary parents reject the international and national school options. One is that they prefer a strength-based education, which is described under Trend #5. The other is that the international and national school options typically operate from a philosophic position that the parents find unacceptable. The issue is not simply one of disagreement but rather a conviction that the nature of the secular option is seriously harmful.

There is nothing new about Christians living in a philosophically hostile world. Christ warned His followers that opposition was inevitable, but they were to remain in the world and live as salt and light.

In some countries, it is physically dangerous to live openly as a Christian. In others, the opposition is subtle and insidious and therefore even more dangerous (Mathew 10:28). Given this latter point, parents may feel that the national and international school options in their area are unacceptably risky.

They may feel there is too high a probability that the compensatory strategies available to them are insufficient to counter the non-Biblical worldview which is consciously or unconsciously promoted at the school.

Above we noted the dynamic role parents play in their child’s academic achievement. There is no single decision more influential in children’s lives than the school the parents choose for them.

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This is not the place for a Christian school apologetic. In fact, the authors of this article have attended secular schools, Christian national schools, an MK school, used homeschooling with their children, and attended a Christian boarding school as a boarder. We appreciated each one of these options and benefitted from them all.

Nevertheless, times have changed, and it is important that parents not assume the modern school is the school of yesterday (e.g., ARC Foundation, 2019; Dueck, 2020). Given that children typically spend ten times as many hours in school as they do in church and given that the media to which they are unrelentingly exposed aligns its worldview with the state’s educational system, it is clear the stakes are high. If parents with all their training find it difficult to live as salt and light in a contrarian world, is it realistic to expect that their children, who live in the same environment, will be able to live as salt and light?

As parents reflect on their educational options and the presuppositional disconnect that exists in at least two of the options, it would also be helpful for them to keep in mind the orienting purposes found in modern education.

Economic Utilitarianism The most frequently cited goal of education is to prepare students for employment. Because there is a strong correlation between knowledge, skills, and employment, governments promote education to gain a competitive economic advantage (Smith and Sandvik, 2012). Two years ago we investigated the possibility of working with a local Christian school in central Africa with the intent of helping it raise standards to an international level.

The school head interrupted our presentation to remind us that 80% of the young people in the country were unemployed and the best thing we could do would be to help their graduating students get a job. Viewed this way, education is the handmaiden of opportunity (Hess, 2020) and a tool of the government to make its citizens economically more valuable.

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Socialization Harvard law professor and Director of the Child Advocacy Program, Elizabeth Bartholet, recently wrote an article for the Arizona Law Review in which she advocated a ban on homeschooling. Even though homeschoolers represent an insignificant 3.4% of the student population in the United States, she felt homeschooling threatened to create a “parallel society” which would promote ideas contrary to the public good (Bauer, 2020). A teaching specialist on child welfare and reproductive technology, she argued that children were hurt by an overexposure to parents with “extreme ideological views” and an inability to make independent, “meaningful choices.”

Bartholet, like many others, holds that education’s orienting purpose is to socialize children to a preferred culture. In this case, it is a progressive culture. Although the merits of her position on homeschooling are not relevant to this article, it is worth noting, as Fred Bauer did, that her approach is in “… real tension with the project of living in a pluralistic society, which means having a place for individuals and communities that dissent from the cultural mainstream …. Like adults, children are not just abstract agents whose teleological end is to maximize “choice’” (Bauer, 2020). While she is eager to have children abandon their parents’ worldview, she offers no corresponding option for those wishing to step away from her view.

As long ago as Émile Durkheim, sociologists were advocating that the education system should be a vehicle for the transmission of values and a shared history, as well as for the learning of skills and knowledge which would create a moral society and a “social being.” With the disappearance of Sunday Schools, Boy Scouts, 4-H clubs and similar moralizing programs, schools have increasingly stepped in to provide the socialization society feels it needs (e.g., Browning, 2019).

Personal Development On the other hand, not all educators are as concerned with society’s well-being as they are with the development of the student into all he or she wishes to be. The goal is self-actualization and selffulfillment. Although Christians who seek to love their neighbors as they love themselves view this educational objective with reservation or outright hostility, the goal simply stated is to see students happy, responsible, and on the pathway to prudential citizenship. This aligns with John Dewey’s belief that education was about the development of the child, which can occur if education is student-centered and characterized by experiential learning and critical thinking.

has in mind for them. This is a much more ambitious objective than Dewey’s child developmental aspiration because it takes all human development and then invites the Creator to extend the horizons and empower the process in accordance with His wisdom and power. It’s more exciting, more fulfilling, and more self-actualizing than any autonomous journey of self-discovery could ever be (Durance, 2019)

Transformation All the above orienting purposes have a dark as well as a bright side to them. We wholeheartedly agree that a quality education should prepare students for work and independent living, it should help them think deeply about their role and responsibility in society, it should leave them sharing a common communal bond, and it should encourage them to adopt a healthy commitment to societal values which correspond to Biblical teaching. The two school options noted above may operate with an orienting philosophic framework that enables a student to leave the school well prepared for life and without a confused or non-Biblical worldview.

However, there is also a chance, even a likelihood, that this is not the case.

Our goal at TeachBeyond is to support the development of more educational options for MKs and we feel strongly that local creativity and contextualization are required for a school to be effective for parents, students, and teachers.

However, we also believe the unifying thread in global education should be a clear, strong focus on the Biblical goal of education. As advocates of a Christocentric education, we believe education is not just about students becoming all they can be, but about them becoming all that God their Creator

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Trend #5: The Evolution of Christian Educational Opportunities International schools and national schools with international standards are two of the four logical options available to MKs today. Both are undergoing change including, most notably, their emergence as a kind of “neighborhood” school in all the major urban areas of the world.

A third option is to homeschool. Like international and national schools, this is at once a more attractive and a more feasible option than it was even ten years ago. Issues of socialization, access, and quality control are now generally addressed, which leaves issues of practicality, preference, learning style, and government regulation as the biggest remaining barriers.

The concept of a “learning center” is not new, but it is new as a formal strategy and a replicable model for the provision of MK education. Its success stems from the collegial interface it creates between homeschoolers, national Christian schools, and an international/MK school or some variant thereof. It is particularly attractive in countries where legal exigencies make it difficult or impossible to establish a school. Furthermore, it welcomes the involvement of parents which is one of the strengths associated with homeschooling. Its flexibility and affordability, together with its strong commitment to a Christocentric learning environment make it an option that is likely to flourish in the intersection of the homeschooling and international Christian school movements.

A fourth option is the International Christian School and the MK focused international Christian school.

Both expressions of international education provide an attractive Christian alternative to the international and national schools. At the same time, they raise issues of affordability and parental engagement, if boarding is available.

Like the other three options, international Christian and MK schools are more attractive today than they

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were 30 years ago when the vice-prefect mentioned at the beginning of the article attended Black Forest Academy in south Germany. Academic standards have improved thanks in part to the work of the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) and its helpful accreditation process. Teachers and boarding home staff come better prepared and when they arrive, they are able to participate in professional development programs. Their performance is also regularly evaluated, as it would be in any quality school. Safeguarding practices are articulated, implemented, and monitored. Physical plants now feature proper labs, auditoriums, athletic facilities, and playgrounds. If schools do not have these features, they are raising funds to acquire them. TeachBeyond currently has capital campaigns in place or in draft form for schools in every region of the world. Programs, too, have been broadened to reflect the varying interests and abilities of the students.

Noteworthy though these developments are, there are two non-programmatic, non-facility related characteristics associated with these schools that merit extended comment. International Christian schools have as their raison d'etre the provision of transformational Christian education. It is hard to

overestimate the importance of this in an age when the prevailing culture undercuts, rejects, or distains the Christian worldview and its concomitant educational goals. One of the hallmarks of the age in which we live is that it is no longer convenient to be a Christian. As a consequence, the nature and role of Christian education has become clearer. No longer are families interested in Christian education because it cultivates good behavior. Rather, they seek it out because it aligns with the Bible and complements teaching at home and in the church.

This is not intended as a criticism of a previous generation which may have been more focused on behavior. Instead, it is referenced as a lesson we have learned and need to continue learning in light of the human tendency to focus on what can be seen and measured. These schools represent an antidote to a culture that is self-referential and obsessed with the pursuit of pleasure, rather than with service to others and a thoughtful pursuit of the “good life” (Psalm 1). In a world where cleverness and wit are confused with understanding and wisdom, these learning communities represent hope for something better, an oasis for young people to discover truth and embrace the pathway to a life that truly satisfies.

A second factor stands out in the MK school as well as in international Christian schools which have a special track for MKs as a unique subset of ThirdCulture Kids (TCK). Because we accept that all students are equal in worth and made in God’s image, we hold that all are to be loved, all are special, and all are equally worthy of our care and concern. In this sense, MKs are not a privileged class. However, we also recognize that unique experiences create micro-cultures and MKs participate in such a culture, even though many of the more visible cultural traits are not shared across continents or from the concrete jungles of Kuala Lumpur to the rainforests of the Amazon.

focus are able to help MKs discover and develop their unique combination of gifts, talents, and abilities. There is a reason talented children study music at Juilliard School of Music and, there is a reason MKs come together for a short season of life to learn together in community.

In recent years, MK schools and, to a lesser extent, international Christian schools, have had to face an array of pressures which COVID-19 has only increased. Existential threats exist because of government regulations, taxes, visa issues, training requirements, mandated salaries and an aggravating array of local rules and procedures. The greatest challenge remains rising costs and stable, even diminishing, revenue streams. These are tuition-reliant institutions, and the costs of emerging technology and the desire to remain competitive in the sense of modernizing with the times left some of these schools precariously positioned even before COVID-19 froze operations.

The solution is not to find ways to cope with COVID19. Rather, it may be a time to add new services, reenvision old services, and replace inhibiting financial models. In some cases, it may also be time to move to a Learning Center approach or to a more flexible enrollment policy that permits an increase in non-MKs or non-Christians, with a public, affirmed declaration that founding principles are irrevocably embedded in the policies and ethos of the school.

In other words, the challenge of COVID-19 needs to become the opportunity of COVID-19. Rather than reacting to a short term problem created by a virus, the preferred approach is to understand the trends which the virus accelerated and to use this unique occasion to introduce change that is anchored on a reality that transcends the immediate crisis.

MK focused education can provide a kind of “strength-based education.” By this we mean that MK schools or internationals schools with an MK

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Trend #6: The Promise and Challenge of Technology Learning online in 2020 is the new normal. Andreas Schleicher (2019) observed that, “The kind of things that are easy to teach are now easy to automate, digitize or outsource.” Providers of international educational in general and missionaries in particular have been early adopters of technological innovation. At a time when much of the world is amazed at Zoom, Teams, and WhatsApp, those working in missions are wondering why all the fuss.

Several years ago, we visited one of our schools in south Asia. The need for math and science teachers able to offer Advanced Placement and A Level courses was critical. Even before COVID-19, the school reported it had successfully transitioned students to a quality, online platform in curricular areas where qualified staff were historically difficult to find. It is already out-of-date to say to this group of educators that a blended online-physical classroom approach could provide a creative workaround for aggravating personnel deficiencies.

The Internet’s ability to facilitate a link between online and physically present teachers is only one of many benefits it offers. Resourcing the classroom is another straightforward service. Until recently, Christian educators in isolated areas lacked market size to create resources for their niche needs. Short runs of textbooks and worksheets were prohibitively expensive. Today developers can shift from print to digital and serve a global market.

Equally exciting is the prospect of tailoring resources to the interests, needs, and pace of the student. A data rich environment makes it possible for the teacher to differentiate learning in ways that enhance the usefulness of the classroom and increase the student’s love of learning.

The Internet now makes it technically possible to introduce flexible start dates and extended

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absences for those on home assignment. In a similar way, it makes it technically possible for boarding students to spend longer periods at home. With the advent of virtual reality, in the coming decade students should be able to join any classroom in the world and have a genuine sense of being “really there.” If surgeons in training are moving in this direction, schools with boarding students will surely find helpful ways to use the technology. In summary, it is easy to see why digital technology creates excitement (Mintz, 2020).

However, challenges remain. In one of our central American schools, the pandemic provided an excellent opportunity to move key aspects of the program online. To everyone’s dismay, student access was hindered by the Internet’s speed and reliability. Expectations were further shattered by the discovery that many families still did not own a computer. Along with these technical problems, educators are having problem obtaining licenses and usage rights.

Resistance to change can also be strong if people are highly invested in traditional delivery formats.

Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, announced at a recent press conference that New York would work with Bill Gates to “reimagine education” using technology (Strauss, 2020). His reasoning seemed logical and the idea of working with Mr. Gates exciting.

"The old model of everybody goes and sits in the classroom, and the teacher is in front of that classroom and teaches that class, and you do that all across the city, all across the state, all these buildings, all these physical classrooms—why, with all the technology you have? … When does change come to a society?

Because we all talk about change and advancement, but really we like control, and we like the status quo, and it’s hard to change the status quo,” he said. “But you get moments in history where people say, ‘Okay, I’m ready. I’m ready for change. I get it.’ I think this is one of those moments.

And I think education, as well as other topics, is a topic where people will say, ‘Look, I’ve been reflecting, I’ve been thinking, I learned a lot.’ We all learned a lot about how vulnerable we are and how much we have to do, and let’s start talking about really revolutionizing education. And it’s about time." Strauss, 2020

His enthusiasm did not convince everyone.

Kathleen Elliott-Birdsall, a teacher at Smith Intermediate School in Cortland, said she “very nearly became apoplectic” when she heard about Cuomo’s plan (Strauss, 2020). She reported a long list of items that were higher on her want list than new technology. While the list of wants and needs differs from location to location, the point remains that even though technology holds real promise, leaders, teachers, parents, school boards, and owners need to work together to introduce change on the scale which appears to be inevitable.

Conclusion How can the Christian community best support the education of missionary children in the years ahead? The answer requires a re-examination of assumptions and reflection on the state of MK education today.

Firstly, crises like the current global pandemic clarify what is important and impose awkward timeliness.

They also provide diverting answers related to the crisis itself rather than to the unfolding historic context. Genuine, enduring support for MK education will be most effective if it aligns with preexisting, evolving opportunities and challenges.

Secondly, solution-oriented support will be closely linked to developments in the wider mission community. MK education is not an independent, autonomous, professional activity: it is a dependent, service-oriented ministry. The more attentively MK educators and caregivers listen to sending agencies, parents, and students, the more helpful will be the strategies and programs they create.

Furthermore, the more attention they pay to the changing dynamic of global mission, the more helpful, the more effective, and the more appreciated their service will be. Missionaries are moving to the global cities of the world, and they are coming from everywhere to undertake a wide variety of activities beyond traditional church planting. Genuine, enduring support for MKs will take these trends into account, and both the

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location and nature of the educational service will reflect the changing aspirations and diversifying ethnic backgrounds of missionaries.

Thirdly, the support which is currently given to MKs is of high quality and marked by success and steady improvement. A brief reflection on the opportunities and challenges associated with each option reveals a mix of advantages and disadvantages, strengths and weaknesses. Any comprehensive plan to support missionaries and the global missions’ effort should support existing MK educational options and help staff in these ministries leverage their opportunities and address their problems. When it comes to MK education, this is a case where, “One size does not fit all.� At the same time, this does not mean that the varying sizes, that is, the different educational options, represent an either/or dilemma. It is time for flexible, bold, faith-filled, collaborative thinking.

Fourthly, best support for MK education and care in the future does not lie primarily in more, bigger, and better. All the methods and options, all the excitement (and anxiety) associated with new technology, and all the facilities and resources are of secondary importance. The greatest support MK educators and caregivers can provide is a gift that is received in the hearts and minds of children and young people. A new campus is not to be compared to a breakthrough, transformational understanding of what it means for Christ to be both personal Savior and Lord of all His creation (Psalm 139; Matt. 16:26).

About Authors David Durance David Durance is the current President of TeachBeyond and leader of several other educational organizations committed to providing transformational education services on a global platform. He was the Regional Director of Asia for TeachBeyond for five years before his appointment to the senior position in TeachBeyond. He holds an Economics degree (With Distinction) from the University of Regina in Canada and an MBA (BGS Honor Society) from the University of Massachusetts (Amhurst). He is currently enrolled at Trinity International University in its PhD leadership program. His research interests are transformation steward leadership, organizational change, and the embracing of organizational mission-vision-values across cultures.

George Durance George Durance is CATE’s (Christians Advancing Transformational Education) Facilitator. He also serves as President of Gateway Global Foundation, which seeks to support CATE and other worthy educational projects around the world (www.gatewayglobal.foundation). After teaching in a public high school, he served 12 years at Black Forest Academy, Germany (Social Studies, Principal, Director), 12 years at Ambrose University, Calgary and 12 years at TeachBeyond. He remains President Emeritus of both Ambrose and TeachBeyond. His academic training is in Biblical studies, history, and education – disciplines which continue to shape his thinking and activities. He earned his PhD at Durham University. George has traveled extensively to help build supporting organizational structures for transformational Christian education. Both his administrative and academic work grow out of a conviction that God is using education in a distinct way to build His church. He is particularly interested in working with those exploring the dynamic role of visionary-missional-transformative-Christocentric education in post Christian, secular cultures.

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References MK Education: Then and Now ARC Foundation (2019) “What does it mean to have SOGOI addressed in the Curriculum.” Ministry of Education, Government of British Columbia. https://bc.sogieducation.org/sogi3 Access date may 13, 2020.

Freiberger, Scott (2017) “5 Emerging Trends in 21st-Century Education.” Getting Smart. July 16, 2017. https://www.gettingsmart.com/2017/07/5-emerging-trendsin-21st-century-education/ Access date May 12, 2020.

Bauer, Fred (2020) “Proposals to Ban Homeschooling are an Attack on Pluralism.” The National Review, April 20, 2020. https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/04/proposals-to-banhomeschooling-are-an-attack onpluralism/? utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=N R%20Daily%20Monday%20through%20Friday%202020-0420&utm_term=NRDaily-Smart. Access date April 20, 2020.

Hess, Frederick M. (2020) “COVID-19 Took Away Public Education. Will we miss it?” https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2020/05/04/covi d-19-took-away-public-education-will-we-miss-it/? utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=blogpost&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=morein&utm_term=first Access date April 16, 2020.

Bettinger, Eric P., Torbjørn Hægeland, Mari Rege (2014) “Home with Mom: The Effects of Stay-at-Home Parents on Children’s Long-Run Educational Outcomes.” Journal of Labor Economics. 32(3) Pages 443-467.

Blöcher, Detlef (2020) “World Mission in the 21st Century.”

DMG: Damit Menschen Gott begegnen. https://www.dmgint.de/mission/id-12-modern-trends.html.

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Browning, Robert, David G Scanlon, and Others (2019).

“Education.” Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/education. Access date May 12, 2020.

Chmielewski, Anna (2019) “The Global Increase in the Socioeconomic Achievement Gap, 194-2015.” American Sociological Review. 84(3) https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122419847165. Access date April 30, 2020.

Dee, Thomas and James Wyckoff (2017) “A Lasting Impact.”

Education Next 17(4) pp58-66 Fall 2017. https://eric.ed.gov/? id=EJ1155077. Access date May 9, 2020.

Dueck, Jim (2020) Then, Now and Why Now. In Press: Rowman and Littlefield, New York.

Durance, George (1996). Value Change in Adolescents: School Effectiveness in the Affective Domain. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Durham University, Great Britain.

Durance, George (2019) “Defining, delimiting, and explaining Transformational Education.” The CATE Centre. https://transformational.education/resources/media-files/21head/47-defining-delimiting-and-explaining-transformationaleducation Accessed May 14, 2020.

Earls, Aaron (2016) “10 Key Trends in Global Christianity for 2017.” Facts & Trends, LifeWay. December 12, 2016. https://factsandtrends.net/2016/12/12/10-key-trends-inglobal-christianity-for-2017/ Access date May 12, 2020.

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Jax, Christine (2013) “Parental Influence on Student Education.” How to (adult) June 28, 2013. https://howtoadult.com/parental-influence-studenteducation-7088.html Access date May 1, 2020 Joshua Project (2019) “Global Mission Trends.” Joshua Project, Operation World, Atlas of Global Christianity, Jesus Film Project, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Frontier Ventures, Mission Frontiers https://joshuaproject.net/assets/media/handouts/globalmission-trends.pdf Access date April 30, 2020.

Keiper, Caitrin (2020) “Editorial Introduction,” The Plough Weekly. https://mailchi.mp/plough/weekly-043020? e=9d9c9968f2. Access date April 30, 2020.

Knight, Andrew (2017) Window to the World: Knowing the need in our world. Self-published, Amazon Kindle Edition.

LeBlanc, Paul (2020) “It’s Time to Take Time Out of Learning and Reinvent Higher Education.” Forbes.com. https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulleblanc/2020/05/03/itstime-to-take-time-out-of-learning-and-reinvent-highereducation/#6149f38d5de5. Access date May 4, 2020.

MacArthur, John R (2020) “Publisher’s Open Letter,” May. Harper’s Magazine, Harper’s Magazine Foundation. New York, NY. Machebe, Chioma, Bernedeth N Ezebge, and Joseph Onuoha (2017) “The Impact of Parental Level of Income on Students’ Academic Performance in High School in Japan.” In Universal Journal of Educational Research, Vol 5(9), pp 1614-1620. DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2017.050919. Access date April 30, 2020 http://www.hrpub.org/journals/article_info.php?aid=6311 Access date April 30, 2020.

Meyers, Adolphe Erich, Oskar Anweiler, et al. (2019) “Global Trends in Education: The development and growth of national education systems.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/education/Global-trends-ineducation Access date May 13, 2020.

Perry, David M (2020) “For Some Colleges, Missing the Fall Semester May Be Just the Tip of the Iceberg.” CNN Opinion. https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/15/opinions/colleges-andhigher-ed-covid-19-changes-perry/index.html Access date April 15, 2020.

Reardon, Sean and Demetra Kalogrides, and Kenneth Shores (2019) “The Geography of Racial/Ethnic Test Score Gaps.” The American Journal of Sociology. 124(4) https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/700678 Access date April 30, 2020.

Scales. Michael G (2020) “Emerging new model of Christian Higher Education: Personalism.” The Christian Post, Feb 10, 2020. https://www.christianpost.com/voices/emerging-newmodel-of-christian-higher-education-personalism.html Access date May 11, 2020.

Wechsler, Alan (2017) “The International-School Surge: Increased demand for a ‘western’ education around the world has reshaped whom these institutions serve.” The Atlantic June 5, 2017. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/06/theinternational-school-surge/528792/. Access date May 5, 2020.

Wikipedia (unsigned article) (2020) “Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Education.” Wikipedia last updated May 11, 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_COVID19_pandemic_on_education Access date May 12, 2020.

Williams, Rachel (2010) “Middle-class children do better at school because of parents.” The Guardian.com 29 October 2010. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/oct/29/middl e-class-children-better-school. Access date May 1, 2020.

Schleicher, Andreas (2019) “Trends Shaping Education 2019.”

In EducSkills OECD. http://www.oecd.org/education/trendsshaping-education-22187049.htm Access date May 12, 2020.

Smith III, Malbert and Todd Sandvik (2012) “Four Global Trends in Education (And Why They Matter).” MetaMetrics, June 2012. http://cdn.lexile.com/m/cms_page_media/135/Four%20Global %20Trends%20in%20Education_2.pdf Access date May 12, 2020.

Strauss, Valerie (2020) “Cuomo Questions why school buildings still exist – and says New York will work with Bill Gates to ‘reimagine education:’ Teachers criticized the partnership.” Washington Post, May 6, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/05/06/cuo mo-questions-why-school-buildings-still-exist-says-new-yorkwill-work-with-bill-gates-reimagine-education/ Access date May 8, 2020.

Vatican (2020) “New Vice-Prefect for Vatican Apostolic Library.” Vatican News, April 20, 2020 https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/202004/new-vice-prefect-for-vatican-apostolic-library.html Access date May 12, 2020.

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CONVERSATIONS ON CARE

MK CAREGIVERS

Sheryl O’Bryan (SROB)

Pete Ammerman (PA)

Bret Taylor (BT)

Tammy Sharp (TS)

Lynda ShingledeckerWheeler (LSW)

Janet Blomberg (JB)

Janet Blomberg (JB) Thanks for sharing your experiences and perspectives as an MK caregiver. There are lots of things we could discuss or ways we could get started, but why don’t we go back to your start in MK care and let’s start with this question. “When you started working in MK/member care, what were the major issues that you faced?”

Lynda Shingledecker-Wheeler (LSW): When I began working in MK care, one of my first challenges was finding out where the MKs were that I was responsible for. This was especially true if they were in college. Not only did I not know where they were, but it was hard to get contact information for them.

Apart from the difficulty in tracking down our MKs, another challenge I faced was deciphering what their top needs were and how the mission could resource them.

One thing that made this more challenging were the limitations we faced both in budget and staffing. It seems that this is something we always face.

Since MK care was so new to everyone, one of the challenges I faced was “selling” the value of it to our mission leadership and trying to figure out what care looked like. This was especially challenging for our organization because our personnel came from so many different sending countries and each had very different definitions of what care looked like. For example, twenty years ago in Latin American, member care was simply trying to get funds from the local church to the family on the field.

Sheryl O’Bryan (SROB): I started working with MKs as a teacher at an MK boarding school. The major issues I saw on the school side of things were sending elementary students to boarding schools, providing special education programs for all of the students who needed them, any kind of differentiation in education, training for dorm staff, and perhaps limited educational choices. Of course, when I started there was no internet available.

The preponderance of material available on the internet, available resources, and fast communication have changed some of that.

When I moved into the headquarters (HQ) member-care team over a decade later, some of those issues remained.

However, from an office position, things took on a very different perspective. More educational options were available on a wider scale, but bringing up boarding school was touchy. Trying to advocate for recruiting teachers (special ed. or otherwise) was frustrating at times.

Pete Ammerman (PA): I started serving in an MK care capacity in 2010 while my wife, Bree, and I were attending Bible school. At that point, I remember feeling really encouraged by what felt like a growing enthusiasm for MK care. This came from within the organization we were planning to serve with long term as well as from the other organizations we found ourselves rubbing shoulders with.

Our vision, at that time, was to focus on the college-age MKs who were finding themselves back in the U.S. (often on their own) and were looking to adapt to the States, college, and even to an early career.

During that time, I remember there was some initial push back in the mission’s community saying, “Don’t make MKs feel different or separate them out.” That led to some controversy when it came to MK or TCK specific programs and clubs on college campuses. I remember understanding the root concerns, but I felt that it was a bit like throwing the baby out with the bath water not to build any programs specifically for them. I believed there was a balance that could be struck where MKs could have programs helpful in getting them the support they could really use, while also not building walls that made them feel different or better than their monocultural peers.

Bret Taylor (BT): There are some real parallels between my experience and Pete’s. Back in 1999, the expat community was just becoming aware of the TCK terminology and related issues. While David Pollock, Ruth Van Reken and others were speaking increasingly globally, only the larger international schools seemed to be consistently investing in helping TCKs transition to their passport countries. The concept of MK/TCK care was still in its infancy in many home offices. Mission agencies were still slow in seeing that their responsibility to MKs was much more than making sure teachers and boarding home parents were recruited.

In 2000, after returning from Kenya, I began contacting mission organizations offering to come on their staff to help their MKs in transition and develop a Flow of Care.

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Over and over again, their response was "Yes, we'd love to have you be a teacher.� or "You would make a great boarding home parent." However, I would persist and begin to articulate a vision for helping their organization develop programs of care for their MKs in transition. In essence, I wanted to be a "youth pastor" for their MKs. Then, like a broken record, every recruiter would respond, "Our MKs could really use something like that, but we don't have a position for that." (Face Palm!)

Tammy Sharp (TS): My experience was a lot like all of yours. When I first started in MK care, a major issue was that member care in general was relatively new for mission agencies. In fact, I started as the MK Coordinator before the Member Care Director was in place. Agencies were still trying to figure out what member care looked like and the specifics of MK care were lost in the midst of that. I was on my own to figure it out. Thankfully, there were a few MK caregivers that shared their wisdom with me, but there weren't many full-time MK care personnel then.

An issue I faced when I first started was convincing our parents that MK care personnel wanted to serve them and come alongside them as they parented their TCKs. Back in those days we had recruited very self-sufficient global workers who didn't see the need for member care much less MK care. Thankfully, after a parent survey, a few debriefing programs and some conferences, parents began to realize how beneficial MK care could be to their family.

JB: So, let’s change the question a bit and focus on the MKs themselves. When you started working in MK/member care, what were the major issues that MKs faced?

BT: What has changed over time is the nearly complete death of the stereotypical MK running barefoot in the wild. Globalization through high speed internet has brought about a more homogenous and culturally aware world. When David Pollock originally described TCKs as being global citizens so many years ago, it was unique to them. Increasingly though, monoculturals are better aware of the world and issues outside their immediate community. The gap is closing. I also find the high mobility of families returning to passport countries with increased frequency (often for shorter durations) is impacting previous stereotypes of TCKs.

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However, like someone who straddles a threshold, they are sometimes neither in nor out, and thus miss out on the benefits of committing to either.

TS: For me, the main issues for MKs were often organizational. Initially, many MKs had a mistrust of their sending agency due to standardized policies. For example, all kids were required to attend boarding schools. Often, the needs of MKs weren't seen as a priority.

In many cases, there was so much mistrust at first, and it led to suspicion of anyone caring about MKs and TCKs. They weren't used to that and didn't know what to think. I remember one girl in college who begrudgingly met me for coffee but didn't share much on my first encounter with her. The next year, she called me when I was in route to set up a time to meet and was very excited that I was coming to connect with her again.

LSW: When I started, one of the basic, practical challenges was how expensive it was to connect and communicate with our MKs or with their parents on the field. This was important because it meant that often they didn’t know what resources where available to them from our organization or from the wider community. The other

thing that was true for our MKs was that they were less aware of social norms and what was popular in their passport countries because there was less availability of internet, cell phones, etc.

When it came to our MKs, in general they were also less aware of their MK/TCK identity as well as of the various themes that surrounded their lives such as grief, loss, belonging, and many others. Isolation intensified many things for them. If they struggled with something, they often felt like they were the only ones grappling with that and felt so isolated which intensified what they were going through.

PA: As Lyn said, when I started working in MK care, the technology we use daily today was only beginning to penetrate the mission’s world overseas. Because of that, we were working with MKs who were still quite isolated from their passport culture. Upon reentry to the States, MKs needed to be very intentional about seeking support and help for the practical skills that they had little exposure to. It was not like the 50s-90s when MKs didn’t even know the clothing styles and media platforms. Yet, there was still a gap in exposure. I remember working with MKs who struggled with how different their American peers were when it came to using smart phones, media platforms, and materialism. We had many conversations about how to use Facebook appropriately and about watch the pit falls of the “comment” section of posts.

PA: There was also a lack of exposure to the cultural conversations that were happening in the States. I’ve talked with many MKs who felt blindsided by the conversations they faced in their college dorms about LBGTQ issues, abortion, and current politics. Their peers had been talking about these things since they were in middle school and already had strong opinions.

I also remember feeling like perfectionism had really saturated the MK community. There was a stark contrast from the typical conservative constructs of the missions’ community they grew up in versus that of the college students they came to call friends. There was a sense of “My parents would not be okay with me having these conversations or feelings.” “We don’t talk about these things in my family.” “I don’t want them to get mad, leave their work and come home because of me.” So, these MKs worked hard to put on a good face so their parents would be happy with them and also their parents’ supporters!

This paints a bad picture of missionary parents in that time. The truth is most parents were not actually unloving or unwilling to dialogue about hard things with their kids.

The problem with perfectionism is that it comes from lack of communication, assumptions and spiritual warfare as the enemy looks to disrupt their families. Often, the physical distance between the parents and child after high school also exacerbated that dynamic.

BT: I see MKs facing two unique challenges today and one relates to what Pete was just talking about. Sometimes MKs today have a false sense of confidence. The issue of false confidence ironically comes from information on TCKs/transition being more available and often sprinkled into their life over time. This seems like a good thing, but I've found (as is often the case), a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Whether it is because TCK issues are being taught by inexperienced or untrained personnel, or it is because it’s being squeezed in and not given priority, MKs today are frequently are overly confident.

Here’s a case in point. Every seminar I teach, I now begin by asking "How many of you have heard of RAFT?" Usually eyes roll, there are a few groans, and nearly all hands go up. I follow that quickly with "How many of you know what the acronym RAFT stands for?” Immediately, the majority of hands waiver, bodies begin to shift uneasily, and typically less than 5-10% can answer that question. Then, I go in for the death stroke. "How many of you intentionally practiced the steps of RAFT to leave well?" It's rare that anyone still has their hand up, and those who do, their more successful process in transition is quickly evident.

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SROB: For me, there has been a shift from what I saw from the school perspective I had as a teacher. One challenge then was getting timely information for colleges or any other state-side program. Communication, mostly those beautiful old aerograms, was always challenging, especially to receive and respond to things in a timely manner. Phone calls were incredibly expensive if families even had phones. So, communication was mostly limited to what felt like censored letters. Other than that, most of the major issues revolved around typical teenager life: homework, sports, and matters of the heart as well as typical boarding school issues: homework, inflexible schedules, and getting enough adult attention.

From a headquarters perspective (once I was there)— programs designed specifically for MKs fell within the scope of what was provided for adults. This was especially evident in the realms of orientation and debriefing. Adult programs existed, but programs for kids beyond babysitting/childcare were non-existent or perhaps a conversation with an interested adult. MKs were acknowledged with birthday cards and graduation cards, but other than that the office didn’t do much with them. Educational options were discussed with parents, but there didn’t seem to be any real connection between the organization and the MKs in it.

JB: So, let’s jump forward a bit and talk about what MK/member care is like today.

I think there are two aspects to this question. One aspect would be how things have changed. The other aspect would be what are the biggest challenges that today’s MKs/TCKs are facing?

SROB: The internet changed so much! Many organizations backed off of their prescriptive policies about educational options and the internet provides access to many more options than existed 30 years ago.

Educational opportunities abound! It’s great to have choices, but picking through those choices can be difficult and daunting. That internet connection may provide amazing educational opportunities, but it also can lead to further isolation of MKs. No longer must they leave home to gain an education, but they no longer have the same pool of other TCKs with whom to create friendships. For many, local/national friends are a great option, but this is still not true for all. When many of your local counterparts, especially for girls, are either denied an education and helping to raise younger children or married and raising their own children, local friendships for teenage, female MKs becomes difficult.

While I’m not advocating TCK friends exclusivity, it’s also good to have friends who understand the intricacies of TCK life in ways non-TCKs can’t grasp.

TS: One challenge and blessing for today's MKs/TCKs is the rise of social media and the ability to connect and maintain relationships despite distance. Things like email, What'sApp, texting, Google, Zoom, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok did not exist when I left the Amazon rainforest and headed to Wheaton College.

Balancing screen time, studies, new friendships, past friendships and all the social media platforms was not something I had to manage back then. I remember being blown away when I saw how email could help me connect to my family back in Brazil.

Another challenge is instant awareness of what is going on globally (this is a good thing too), but for MKs and TCKs who care deeply and are passionate about the world, this can have an emotional and exhausting effect. Long gone are the days when we would wait for weeks for a Newsweek or U.S. News magazine to show up so we could read about old news. Now we can all follow events in real time.

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MKs/TCKs. In the last few years, I am shocked at how technology has penetrated the missions’ world overseas. I only have to think about my overseas trips just a few years ago. Very few, if any MKs, had cell phones. In recent years, I found MKs not only have them, but they have almost all of the same apps, music, and lifestyles as their American peers. It’s amazing! I’ve also observed how the tribe and village folks where our families work also have them! This is a topic that has many rabbit holes to follow, but as it relates to MKs, we are seeing many be connected to their passport countries and cultures like never before while overseas. They are leaps and bounds ahead of past generations of MKs in being aware of current cultural trends in their passport culture.

LSW: As Sheryl and Pete have said, when I think of how things have changed, I think of technology. It has really improved the connections that MKs/TCKs have with their peers, their family, and others. Unfortunately, there is a flip to technology for MKs. It can keep MKs from investing in their current environment and keep them from creating new friendships.

“There are an increasing number of MKs who are sheltered from their national host culture….

In addition, while they have more awareness of what it means to be an MK, it doesn’t necessarily mean having the tools to deal with things like grief, communication norms in their passport country, or conflict.”

From Lynda Shingledecker Wheeler LSW: There’s another side to what Tammy just said. There are an Increasing number of MKs who are sheltered from their national host culture due to safety issues. Thus, they don’t learn the local language or foster relationships with nationals. While this was true in the past as well, it wasn’t necessarily due to safety but rather because parents did not foster these opportunities for engagement.

Working/living on mission bases may not have facilitated engaging with nationals on a regular basis. In addition, while they have more awareness of what it means to be an MK, that doesn’t necessarily translate into having the tools to deal with things like grief, communication norms in their passport country, or belonging.

PA: I’m truly in awe when I think about how things have changed in the last ten years. The world has moved into globalization so quickly, and it has had many effects on

SROB: I agree with Lyn. A challenge for some TCKs is also technology. It provides so many blessings for the highly mobile community, and so many ways to continue connecting with family and friends. Sadly, however, it can become a bulwark against engaging where one finds themself in the world. Technology provides distractions in so many ways. It also provides access to information many don’t need and don’t know how to filter. Therefore, it makes them vulnerable to influences and influencers most would not invite into their home. (Obviously, it’s not just a TCK problem!)

LSW: This also has implications for MK caregivers. While they now have more possible connections through technology (email, social media, WhatsApp, etc.), MKs can still mask the real issues they are grappling with in their lives. MKs have to choose who they trust or not to help them. This can be complicated by them attracting “needy” people who they have been nice to and their care/attention is interpreted as being a more significant/deeper relationship.

For MK caregivers, providing care requires a level of emotional intelligence to be able to respond well to the MKs: where they are, their stage of life, and their maturity as well as having good resources around for difficult situations that the MKs have already lived through or for the repercussions of current choices.

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PA: I’ve observed a swift change in American culture in the last few years. That is to say, we don’t have much of a culture! It is at a point now where it is a roller coaster with changes to the cultural norms every day. There are major divisions that have taken hold—generational divides, political divides, and racial divides. All of these have led to the loss of our combined identity as Americans and a unified culture. There has been a diminishing in “truth.”

It’s next to impossible to believe what you hear and see now. Our cultural mood changes by the hour. These topics get debated in unhealthy arguments half-heartedly posted on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Even the art of face-to-face debate has turned into protesting and rioting. Now the world-changing event of Covid-19 has led us to a new level of uncertainty as we are living day-to-day and waiting to see what’s next and what the new normal will be. The future is hard to imagine.

This is the world our MKs are now trying to “transition into.” In some ways, it is impossible to adjust to because there is so little solid ground on which to land; so little resettling to experience and find comfort in. The challenges ahead for MKs and MK caregivers alike is to find ways to seek truth—despite this trend; to rediscover and foster skills in good discussion and healthy debate; to become a learner; to research the hot topics like racism, social justice, human rights, sexual orientation, and gender identity. These are the new “how’s the weather” and “sports” small talk of the past.

LSW: We are seeing a greater incidence of mental health issues among MKs in part because we have greater awareness of mental health issues. One question is why?

Is it because this generation is more open about them or is there truly more incidence of mental health issues among MKs who are struggling? In addition, there is a growing number of MKs/TCKs who have experienced trauma in their locations. However, there is not always the support or resources they need to deal with that trauma in healthy ways.

PA: I agree with Lyn that we are seeing a sharp rise in mental health challenges such as anxiety disorders, depression, hyper-stress. These are issues that are affecting young people at alarming rates. I do not believe MKs are immune to this just because they didn’t grow up in the U.S. It has become globalized. In a recent trip overseas, I facilitated a transition conference for high school MKs. I spent lots of time on the traditional transitional topics and elements, but this year I also

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added a session on anxiety, depression and stress. I talked about definitions, how they affect you, what you can do about it, and how to help others. I found that many of the MKs were very impacted and felt a personal connection to this material. It was an eye opener for me as it was not a small fraction of students who were impacted by this, but rather the majority.

JB: Now let’s shift our conversation to talking about how things have changed for you and how MK care/member care changed? As you interact with other MK caregivers, what are some of the challenges they are facing?

BT: I subscribe to the idea that MK care, as John Barclay advocates, was what prompted the modern member-care movement. The idea that organizations shouldn't simply train and send people but should follow and nurture/support their members was novel at the end of the 20th century. It flew in the face of the iconic missionary mindset of packing everything up in your casket and purchasing a one-way ticket to parts unknown.

However, in the past decade, organizations have seen many modern-day missionaries are now expecting and requiring more ongoing "member care" as they are far less self-reliant and independent. The MKs seem to have been lost in the shuffle or assumed a trickle-down effect would reach them as parents are “member cared.” Of course, there is one major exception to this new norm of returning to giving minimal support to MKs. It is the area of child safeguarding. However, this has been reactionary (not proactive) in the steps that organizations have taken.

Unfortunately, my cynicism lends to believing resources (financial, personnel, etc.) have been invested in child safeguarding mainly as a means of protecting the organization's good name and its coffers from litigation regarding child abuse on the field.

PA: I have seen some major shifts in my ten years of involvement in MK care and some of them are related to what Bret was just talking about. Many organizations and mission leaders have become more open to member care in general. Multiple elements led to this eagerness to see members cared for more intentionally. In the last few years, more and more high profile, media-driven stories

have put missions in the public eye. No longer is there a sense of “our business is our business.” The age of sweeping things under the rug to protect the organization is no longer being tolerated and full transparency is what is valued. This has led organizations to see themselves as fully accountable for their members.

carrying a 12-hour class load. Gap years are more possible. Taking an entry-level job without great insurance also became a more realistic possibility. Of course, HIPPA regulations mean 18-year-olds are suddenly solely responsible for their insurance information. However, it seems to have provided more benefits for MKs than challenges.

SROB: I think that MK care as member care has become more mainstream. MKs are not seen merely as dependents or easier ways for their parents to establish relationships with local people. MKs are seen as important parts of the ministry. MKs are valued for who they are, not just as foreign language performers during furlough.

During my tenure at a sending agency, I saw MKs become more valued as people. They were welcomed to the office and were rarely seen as disruptions. They brought the fun.

I also saw numerous people join the organization because their children were cared for and because the whole family was deemed important. I saw policies change to allow more visits back “home” by college-age TCKs, and more visits to those same TCKs by their parents if it was wiser for the TCK to stay in situ.

PA: I also see that member care, in general, is beginning to get younger. Traditionally, member care positions were seen as only for seasoned veterans who no longer could serve overseas due to age. It was not a position to offer incoming or mid-career staff because they had no experience in the field and would not understand the organization culture well enough. While there is some truth to this, I believe many agencies are shedding this as a core belief.

Here are a few reasons for this shift. Organizations are hurting in the personnel department because they are losing their personnel to retirement faster than they can fill positions. When you restrict filling positions to only a pool of veterans, you will have few options. Also, I believe they are realizing that technology is becoming more and more integral to the member-care efforts and so younger staff is needed to spearhead the integration of these new platforms. Lastly, I believe there is realization that a generationally diverse staff is powerful. It leads to a mix of new ideas and an infusion of energy, while also having the constancy, vast experience, wisdom and the healthy passing-of-the-baton of mentoring.

PA: I’m seeing many organizations shifting their ministry scope to better include parents. There is a movement to see parents more involved and equipped in the assisting of their children’s transition cross-culturally. Instead of just having the “caregivers” or “experts” teach their kids about transitions, MK care departments are realizing how important equipping mom and dad is. In other words, it’s building up the greenhouse that is the nuclear family unit.

We are finding ourselves wanting to create a consistent and succinct language around cross-cultural transition topics and elements between caregivers, MKs and parents. We see that it is more valuable for MKs long term when we choose to come alongside the whole family. In the organization that I serve with, this shift has started, and we are looking at many changes to improve and implement this ministry philosophy.

SROB: Sadly, in the last few years I’ve also seen the pendulum begin its return to less proactive member care for both MKs and adults. I’ve seen adverse reactions to potential missionaries choosing one organization over another because they chose to go where children were valued and trained.

SROB: Obamacare, for all its foibles and flaws, was a boon for many TCKs in the “emerging adult” category. It allows them to remain on their parents’ health insurance without

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PA: I believe the newer generations of missionaries are not the same as they once were. Younger missionaries are coming from a childhood where they were supported unlike the generations before them. They grew up in the age of helicopter parents and the rise of customer service as king. As Sheryl said, many young missionaries now choose organizations to serve with based on how well they feel supported, equipped, heard, and loved. If member care is not happening for them or if they are not allowed to have a voice, it’s an issue. This is not how missionaries tended to operate coming out of World War II when many mission organizations were birthed. They were often modeled after military infrastructure and mindset. Missionary training was often called “boot camp,” you came back for “furlough,” you were “debriefed” by the leadership, and you were expected to fall in line with the authority of your leaders. That is not to say that this is all bad, but it is not the language of 20- and 30-somethings today.

SROB: The major problems facing MK caregivers today vary from field to office. That being said, I think a foundational, age-old problem is money. Between changes in giving habits of the American population, an understanding of supported missionaries (including home office staff), and economic downturns, money pushes the pendulum away from MK member care (and proactive member care for adults, too.) If something gets cut, it’s usually the MK program. And it’s often accompanied by the caveat that “Kids are resilient. They’ll be fine.” It may be a truth in the short run, but there are often long-term consequences.

LSW: One major change is that member care now has formal degree programs. It would be great to see a specific degree program extend to the specific area of MK care. MK Caregiver training is now available. Having more of a network of MK and Member Caregivers can provide a greater scope of care beyond what any particular mission can provide. It also allows for more training, sharing of resources, and encouragement, especially for smaller mission agencies that often have limited budget and personnel.

SROB: There may or may not be a college course of study one can follow to become an MK caregiver. However, there are important skills that caregivers need to develop.

Being a self-starter, a life-long learner, and a curious

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listener as well as thinking outside the proverbial box in order to apply learning from different areas, to make dollars stretch so they scream in agony, and staying as relevant as possible to families, administration, and TCKs are also important skills MK caregivers should develop.

BT: Another change is that an increasing percentage of TCKs are growing up in an urban setting. Missiological strategies are targeting these settings. Additionally, parents today expect their kids to have access to quality education and experiences best afforded at larger international schools. I’m finding I need to retool the stories I tell and assumptions I make about the values of the MKs with whom I’m interacting. It’s shocking to me how many MKs have limited ability to converse in the languages of their host country. What’s truly heartbreaking to me, personally, is how few true relationships MKs have with those outside their expat community.

“Many young missionaries now choose organizations to serve with based on how well they feel supported, equipped, heard, and loved. If member care is not happening for them or if they are not allowed to have a voice, it’s an issue. This is not how missionaries tended to operate coming out of World War II when many mission organizations were birthed.”

From Pete Ammerman TS: One challenge for me as an MK caregiver now is choosing which platform to use to connect with MKs and TCKs. I sit at my desk and ponder for a minute if I should send an email, text, Whatsapp, DM on Instagram or use Facebook messenger. Of course, it is much easier to connect with MKs and TCKs and for that I'm grateful and willing to use new technology tools. I just wonder what's next?

LSW: Technology and internet have greatly improved a caregivers’ ability to connect, communicate, and resource MKs regardless of their location. However, it can also give a false sense of connection and relationship, especially if there hasn’t been much F2F (face-to-face) connection.

"It’s shocking to me how many MKs have limited ability to converse in the languages of their host country. What’s truly heartbreaking to me, personally, is how few true relationships MKs have with those outside their expat community."

From Bret Taylor

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JB: “What are three of your favorite MK/TCK resources?” I know there will be some overlap on these, but I know that other caregivers will really appreciate your input on this—especially those who are new to their position.

SROB: Yikes! I’m going to start with some books! Without sounding like an advertisement … Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds (first and third editions) by David Pollock, Ruth Van Reken, and Michael Pollock is my top resource. It is the foundational work especially for caregivers. Even when I know things, it’s a good refresher.

It’s also an easy thing to refer others to, but I’ll bet everyone has it on their list.

LSW: She’s right! It is the top resource on my list (especially some aspects of the second edition and some aspects of third edition!). Another book I really like is Finding Home: Third Culture Kids in the World by Rachel Pieh Jones (editor).

BT: Yes, the TCK book is on the top of my list too! For me, it’s the foundational piece on which all other material on the subject finds its roots. Another resource that’s high on my list is I Have to Be Perfect: and Other Parsonage Heresies by Tim Sanford. This book does a beautiful job of unmasking the secret chains that control so many MKs. When I explain these lies to MKs, I've seen God bring freedom to their lives and an invisible weight lifted.

SROB: I agree with Bret. This book has been around now for about ten years. I still believe, however, that it is by far the best resources to discuss the particulars of perfectionism for kids raised in a ministry household.

There are so many books that help MKs, but this one hits this topic like no other.

TS: As Bret said, this book is a must-read for all college and adult TCKs who have believed holy heresies and need to find their way back to the truth. I give this book away and use it as prizes at events. I believe every TCK should read it.

BT: I’ve got another book to add to the list. It’s Safe Passages by Doug Ota. I love the vision and practical approach this book takes to what a flow of care looks like

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in international schools. Some of the models it presents are very useful in helping to visual the complexities of care in a highly mobile community.

TS: A book I’ll add to the list is Third Culture Kids: A Gift to Care For by Ulrika Ernvik. It is a real gift to MK caregivers because it is full of hands-on ideas and activities to help TCKs process and integrate their experiences. I’ve used some of the activities myself when I work with TCKs. I recommend this book to parents and other caregivers.

LSW: I’d like to shift things a bit and talk about some books for kids or that can be used with kids. Here are three books that I really like: Little Blue and Little Yellow

by Leo Lionni, (Scholastic, 1993), A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni, (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2006) and Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say (Sandpiper, 2008).

TS: Another book for kids that I really love is Swirly by Sara Saunders. This book is a must-read for TCKs of all ages. It helps them understand the benefits and challenges of being a TCK and that Jesus understands because he is a TCK too. This book is a great intro book to read with kids to help them understand being a TCK. I’ve used it with all ages of TCKs in one-on-one debriefings or in a group setting.

PA: Let’s shift things a bit and talk about programs and other resources. An organization that I like is Axis (axis.org). They have been growing in recent years. They help adults (i.e. parents, caregivers, teachers, etc.) navigate today's culture and connect withs teen through meaningful conversations. They produce many resources, but my favorite is their “conversation guides” for parents called Teen Cultural Translation and Parent Guides. They give parents tools to help foster healthy conversation with their kids around challenging subject.

I have also used their video series on Anxiety and found it very helpful when working with MKs. LSW: I’m not sure where this goes, but this a resource I really like. It is the TCK TED talk by Diego Meneses. He is a sixth grade TCK who explains what it is like to be a TCK. (YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=_o_r6FQVmxY&t=67s).

PA: Reentry Programs/Transition Seminars are not new.

Some of them have been running programs for 30+ years. In my opinion, these programs are one of the most important investments parents and can make for their high school or college age child. The programs run by organizations like Interaction International, Narramore Christian Foundations, Barnabas International give MKs an incredible jump start to their reentry to the U.S. They give them incredible tools to process their story and transition. They give the gift of a transition-minded community made up of new friends in the U.S. that understand what they are going through. It also gives them a chance to connect with therapists and counselors who “get it” in a safe and comfortable way.

These programs are designed specifically to meet these MKs right where they are at and give them incredible support at a uniquely challenging time.

TS: Interaction International provides training, programs and advocacy for third-culture kids and internationally mobile families. As a MK Caregiver I have benefited from Interaction's webinars and resources on TCKs and recommend their programs to TCKs and their families. As the Director of MuKappa, I would say my favorite resource is MuKappa! It is an organization for college students who have grown up in a cross-cultural setting.

It is a great way for students to find belonging, friends and transition help on their campus.

JB: What are three of your favorite resources as a caregiver?

SROB: I’m not sure which category this fits into, but I think it belongs here. There are two conferences that are important for caregivers: MKCS (MK Care Summit) and MKES (MK Education Summit). These two conferences hit the two sides of the MK Care coin—care and education.

They introduce you to the most important resources you can ever draw upon—other MK/member caregivers. When I get stumped, the friends I’ve developed from these two conferences come to my rescue with resource recommendations and introductions to other people who can help. The information at the conferences is top notch, but the relationships are most important.

LSW: There are a few other resources that I’ve used with our MKs or that would be helpful to other caregivers. One book that is helpful for caregivers is My Mixed Emotions: Help Your Kids Handle Their Feelings by Elinor Greenwood, (DK Publishing, 2018). Another book for caregivers is Arrivals, Departures, and the Adventures InBetween by Christopher O’Shaughnessy, (Summertime Publishing, 2014).

A great resource for MKs is Tear Soup: A Recipe for Healing After Loss by Pat Schwiebert and Chuck DeKlyen, (Grief Watch, 5th Edition, 2005). I’ve also used the movie Inside Out, (Disney/Pixar, 2015).

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TS: Michele Phoenix has a plethora of resources on her website (https://michelephoenix.com/) on a variety of topics related to the MK world. Besides reading her articles, watching her videos and listening to her podcast myself to gain more insight, I recommend these resources to TCKs and to people who work with them.

SROB: TCKs are one of the greatest resources for TCK work. For the most part, they love to help. They love to help people understand their experiences and the environments in which they grew up. They love to tell their stories. They love to pay it forward to the generation of TCKs coming behind them. I’ve learned so much from listening. If you know TCKs, this is where that curious listening comes into play. Ask good questions. Be surprised by their answers. They know their people group. Don’t waste that knowledge.

A good book for caregivers is The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan. I’m not good at rest (a true Sabbath), but I need to be. This is one of the few books I can reread, let alone reread and be convicted of my need for rest. Can I add the beach or a hot tub to the list?

BIOS

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Pete Ammerman

Sheryl O’Bryan

has worked with MKs since 2010 and serves with Ethnos360 providing member care (training, services, equipping and support) for their MKs and families around the globe. Each year he serves with Narramore Christian Foundation to staff their MK Reentry Program, and this year served on Interaction’s Transition Seminar staff. He has also served on the steering committee for MKCS.

began her work with TCKs at the International Christian Academy in Cote d'Ivoire. During her time there she taught high school English and Social Studies as well as elementary French.

She also served in the dorms and in various administrative positions. After leaving ICA, she spent 16 years at her organization's headquarters as the TCK Caregiver and Education Consultant. Sheryl currently serves with Interaction International wearing a variety of hats in her role as Director of TCK Services.

She has also served on the steering committee for MKCS.

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Tammy Sharp

Lynda Shingledecker Wheeler

is a TCK who was born and raised in Brazil where her parents served as teachers / administrators. After receiving her degree from Wheaton College, she became a history teacher in Alaska, and later returned to teach in Brazil.

After finishing her Master’s degree in Education, she began work at a missions agency serving TCKs. From there, Tammy joined Barnabas International in 2017 and became the Director of MuKappa (mukappa.org) in the summer of 2019. She has also served on the steering committee for MKCS.

is an MK who grew up in Latin America and she returned to the mission field working with MKs and their families. She transitioned to working with college-age MKs developing resources as well as supporting and connecting them.

Currently, she serves as the co-leader for Global TCK Care and Education for SIL and in TCK Care and Education and staff care in the Americas area. She has also served on the steering committee for MKCS.

Bret Taylor

Books Mentioned:

has worked with MKs since 1999. Originally, he served with Christian Missionary Fellowship at West Nairobi School in Kenya. Later, he served with Wycliffe at JAARS. Presently, he serves with Interaction International as the Director of Operations and serves as lead staff on several of Interaction’s programs for MKs and MK Caregivers. He has also served on the steering committee for MKCS.

Swirley, Third Culture Kids, Rest of God, My Mixed Emotions, I Have to be Perfect, Safe Passage

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MK RESEARCH: FOUNDATIONS David L. Wickstrom, Phd

In the October 1994 issue of Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ), this author had an article published in which he stated, “Missionary research is getting a bad name, especially as it relates to missionary kids (MKs). As one MK put it, ‘I believe that we are always sought out and used as a source of study since we are so easily targeted .... It seems that many books and articles written are only by those who have had bad experiences. This definitely affects those who have never been overseas.”

The opinions of many MKs can be summarized in the statement: “We’re getting tired of being studied so much; we’re constantly getting surveys, and it makes us feel like we’re strange or something, like guinea pigs.” However, many MKs are saying just the opposite. As one said, “I’m so glad someone has stopped speculating and is actually doing some good solid research on MKs.’” During the years prior to 1994 and starting as early as 1977, some serious research studies had been conducted, three of them Doctoral dissertations. In 1977 C.B. Hermann wrote a dissertation titled “Foundational factors of trust and autonomy influencing the identity-formation of the multi-cultural life-styled MK.” D. J. Schipper completed a dissertation titled “Self-concept differences between early, late and non-boarding missionary children.” Both of these studies were published that year in Dissertation Abstracts International. A classmate of D.J. Schipper was the current author who, in 1978 wrote a Doctoral dissertation titled “Self-esteem and dependency in early,

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late and non-boarding missionary children.” Research with MKs and related issues was gaining traction, especially after the International Conference for Missionary Kids (ICMK) was held in Manila, Philippines in 1984.

At that first ICMK, participants shared their stories, and numerous individuals who worked with MKs shared their experiences. The atmosphere was one of inclusion and belonging, a feeling of “being at home” and of “not being strange.” This conference generated so much momentum that a second ICMK was held in1987 in Quito, Ecuador, and a third was held in 1989 in Nairobi, Kenya. At these ICMKs little empirical research described the MK experience.

However, mission organizations were beginning to desire a more thorough and substantiated understanding of MKs. It was at this point that MK-CART/CORE was established.

It was consortium of eventually 11 mission organizations (CART—Consultation and Research Team) and six researchers (CORE—Committee on Research and Endowment). The mandate for CART/CORE was for the missionary organizations and the researchers to design studies of mutual interest and concern to the missions, for the researchers to conduct the research, and for MKCART/CORE to meet annually to discuss the results of each study. The studies conducted by MK-CART/CORE and the findings/results that emerged laid the foundation for our understanding of MKs and their families as well as for the research that has followed.

“The research conducted by MKCART/CORE … represents a collaboration of several leading scholars … as well as a number of mission sending agencies…. By banding together, this consortium has been able to leverage their resources and produce high quality research that benefits missionaries and their families and helps inform those who work with them. MK-CART/CORE is a stellar example of collaborative research and should be held up as a model for others to follow.”

Dale Hawley (Missions Resource Network, 2004) As was evident in the dissertations by Schipper and Wickstrom, the topic of MK education and especially personality trait development related to boarding school influences was a hot topic. Therefore, the first MKCART/CORE study involved researchers traveling to 20 different boarding schools in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Latin America to investigate the qualities boarding school personnel possessed and qualities they deemed ideal for staff members to have. Out of the total sample of 579 staff members, 54 were administrators, 337 were teachers, 107 were boarding home parents, and 81 were identified generally as support staff.

For each of the personnel groups, five general traits or qualities were described as being desirable. First, each staff member should have the basic professional knowledge and skills necessary to fulfill the requirements of the position. Secondly, personnel needed to have a healthy and growing spiritual life. Thirdly, the effective staff member is one whose “walk matches his/her talk.”

Fourthly, staff need a strong commitment to the community, expressed by their willingness to be available, to encourage balanced living, to be aware of the needs of

others, and to attempt to help when appropriate. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, a sense of call was viewed as crucial, not only to missionary work in general, but to boarding school ministry specifically.

In the EMQ article, more specific qualities for each position were delineated. These qualities were discussed with the members of MK-CART who could pass the information on to the decision-makers in their mission organizations. As a result of this study, mission recruiters and assessors have been much more intentional in using the criteria specified to help them choose and deploy the most effective and committed boarding school staff they can find. These appointments have included extensive personal interviews as well as the use of standardized psychological and personality assessments. The result, at least from what this author has learned, is that boarding schools are functioning much more effectively and safely than before the study. In addition, many parents have decided not to send their children to boarding school but are homeschooling their children or using national or international schools where they live and work.

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A second study conducted by MK-CART/CORE had to do with the missionary family overall, not just the children.

Family interpersonal communication, problem-solving skills, sense of belonging, satisfaction with their work, longevity of service, and overall adjustment of family members were all explored. Both demographic questions and standardized measurements were utilized in this study. One interesting finding in the study had to do with satisfaction and longevity of service.

In answer to the question, “Did you become a missionary as a response of obedience to the Great Commission (go into all the world and make disciples) or out of a sense of personal call?” There were statistically significant differences between the two groups. Those answering that they chose to serve as missionaries out of a “personal sense of call” experienced a greater sense of effectiveness, satisfaction and having greater longevity than did those who became missionaries as a “response to the Great Commission.” The first group was also able to handle setbacks, trauma and stress better than the second group.

These data suggest that a sense of fulfillment and ability to handle the challenges of life overseas are more related to a sense of a personal relationship and calling by God than simply obeying God’s commandment. Mission organizations are now including questions regarding “sense of call” in their pre-field assessments. The interpersonal connection was a significant factor, not only in this study but in all of the studies conducted by MK-CART/CORE.

Each of the studies indicated that overall adjustment and functioning of MKs were related to the closeness, communication, problem-solving skills and enjoyment of the parents with each other. The better the relationship between the parents and between the parents and their children, the better prepared were the children to handle the adjustments, setbacks and stresses of life including whether they attended boarding schools, international schools, national schools or were homeschooled. They also had greater resilience and were more effective in handling life as adults when they had a solid foundation of strong parent-to-parent and parent-to-child relationships.

This was especially evident in the results from the third study conducted by MK-CART/CORE. It was a retrospective study conducted with adult MKs (AMKs) who were each asked to fill out a 47-page questionnaire describing their experiences growing up. The researchers sampled a pool of over 10,000 adult MKs from participating missions, and 1,475 were questionnaires were mailed out to the sample participants. Out of that number, over 600 usable protocols were returned describing a myriad of details regarding spiritual, educational, social and vocational aspects of their lives.

In addition, almost 200 respondents provided written comments, even lengthy letters, giving stories of victories, struggles, trauma and reflections from their experiences overseas. Almost 80% of the respondents indicated a willingness to have an extensive follow-up interview with a CORE member, a number of which were completed. Each CORE researcher had the same list of questions to ask the MKs who responded.

Again, the relationship between the parents and between parents and children was a key factor contributing to the well-being and life-satisfaction experienced by the adult MK. One of the most significant and surprising pieces of data resulting from the interviews was in response to the question, “When you were growing up, who was the most important person in your life … and why?” A list of answers was provided from which the AMK could choose such as mother, father, both parents, a sibling, a houseparent at the boarding school, a teacher, an administrator, a famous sports figure, etc.

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Most of the CORE researchers, basing their experience on studies regarding the influence of mothers on their children, thought AMKs would say “Mother.” Instead, 55% of the respondents identified “Father” as the most important person in their life. Why? “He spent time with me”; “He knew I liked basketball, so he would play basketball with me in 120 degree heat”; “He included me in his work”; “He lived out what he preached”; “When I came out of my bedroom in the morning, Dad would be kneeling by the couch praying for me and the family”; “When I was falsely accused of doing something wrong at school, Dad drove 200 miles to come and defend me”.

Again, the quality of a close, caring, loving, and committed relationship with Father formed the foundation for these AMKs further well-being in life.

mentioned including the entire process of selection, training, sending, supervision, and pastoral care of missionaries, often known as Member Care. Whatever the reasons and statistics given for missionaries leaving the field early, one Old Sending Country agency reported in 1996 that “47% of missionaries leave the field during the first five years, and 71% of them do so for preventable reasons. MKs in the families are of course impacted and perhaps unnecessarily so.”

MK-CART/CORE members worked together for 15 years (from 1987-2002) developing and conducting studies.

They eventually wrote a book called The Family in Mission: Understanding and Caring for Those Who Serve, and it was published by Mission Training International in Colorado Springs, CO. During the years MC-CART/CORE was conducting its research, another large research project, was launched in 1994. In 1997, a book called Too Valuable to Lose: Exploring the Causes and Cures of Missionary Attrition was published by William Carey Library. This study included many organizations identified as being from the “Old Sending Countries” (OSC). These included the UK, the U. S., Denmark, Germany, Canada, Australia, and others. It also included organizations identified as being from “New Sending Countries” (NSC) such as Brazil, Costa Rica, Ghana, India, Korea, Nigeria, Philippines, and Singapore.

Common reasons mentioned as contributing to missionaries leaving the field early were family ailing parents in their home country); children’s issues including educational concerns; systemic issues and management problems in the sending organization; unrealistic expectations; inadequate pre-field training; conflicts, with co-workers and nationals; marriage conflicts and child-rearing issues.

At the end of the ReMAP report, several areas contributing to missionary attrition were mentioned as needing further study and research. In 2002 a second ReMAP project was launched, this time named Retaining Missionaries, Agency Practices known as ReMAP II, and a book called Worth Keeping: Global Perspectives on Best Practice in Missionary Retention was published in 2007, again by William Carey Library. And again, the need for open and healthy communication between the missionary and the agency, adequate training pre-field and on-field, inclusion of MKs in the pre-field selection process as well as in on-field training were all noted as important factors in the retention of missionaries. In this book, Worth Keeping, there are numerous charts, graphs, and statistics to describe the research and its conclusions.

Other reasons were mentioned and discussed at length, and relevant statistics were presented. At the same time, deeper issues which contributed to attrition were

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Except for the ReMAP II project started in 2002 (about the time MK-CART/CORE completed its mandate), it appears that very little hard data have been generated, and no one has apparently picked up the mantle to conduct further data-based, statistically-significant studies having to do with missionaries and their families. This means that there are ample research opportunities for those who wish to contribute to the effectiveness, well-being and longevity of missionaries and organizations. Some opportunities and research questions that come to mind, and others mentioned in the will be enumerated below. of the significant changes in the education of 1. Because MKs from a primary emphasis on use of boarding schools to providing other options (homeschooling, national schools, international schools, roving educators to assess children and train parents on how best to teach their children), which methods seem to be working the best and why? types of resources are needed and how can they 2. What be provided (e.g. special education teachers, school psychologists, guidance counselors, mental health professionals, etc.) to help parents and children resolve marital issues, family problems, and learning challenges in children. How can these resources be recruited and placed where most needed?

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agency systemic issues (eg. leadership style, 3. Which communication styles, on-field support, investigatory practices, conflict-resolution methods, ethos of the organization, etc.) contribute the most either to (a) ongoing effective missionary service and well-being of missionaries or to (b) discouragement, reduced performance, resentment and bitterness in missionaries? What can be done to improve these practices or address the systemic issues? assessment and training tools are being used or 4. Which could be used to improve the recruitment of missionary candidates and subsequent retention of healthy and effective workers? are the most common factors contributing to the 5. What success, spiritual growth and well-being of adult MKs, and what are the most common factors contributing to bitterness, leaving the faith, and dysfunctional personal and relational attitudes and behaviors?

It has been the purpose of this writer, both as a psychologist and as an MK, to shed some light on some of the research that has been conducted and conclusions drawn in the past. In addition, it is my fervent hope that other MKs, missionaries, mental health practitioners, and educators will explore some of the research questions mentioned above so that the work of missionaries and the well-being of MKs are enhanced for the glory of God.

David L. Wickstrom, Phd Dr. David Wickstrom grew up as an MK in Nigeria. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Grace College in Indiana. He obtained his Master’s and PhD degrees from Rosemead School of Psychology in California. Since 1978, Dr. Wickstrom has been a psychotherapist and has specialized in pre-field psychological assessments of missionary candidates and in counseling missionaries, MKs and cross-cultural workers. For 15 years he was part of the MK CART/CORE research team that conducted studies with MKs and their families. In addition, he works in career assessment using the Highlands Ability Battery (both for missionaries and nonmissionary clients as well as with teens and adults). He meets regularly with people in the U.S. and overseas and serves several mission organizations. Dr. Wickstrom currently maintains a small private practice in North Carolina as a psychologist serving missions and missionaries based on sound psychological principles integrated with the truths of Scripture as found in the Bible.

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Closing the Loop Janet Blomberg Last year marked the 50th anniversary of the start of research on third-culture kids (TCKs) and their families.

There have been several waves of research. Dr. Ruth Useem, sociologist at Michigan State University (MSU), launched the first wave in the late 1950s. The second wave began in the missions’ community, and centered on the work of MK-CART/CORE. Currently, we are in the third wave of research with studies being done on all aspects of the MK/TCK experience.

Dr. Ruth Useem and TCK Research (1968-1986) Dr. Useem coined the term “third-culture kids” in the late 1950s, but it wasn’t until the late 1970s that it appeared in the research. She coined the term after she and her family spent several years in India studying the expat community there.

While she worked with adults who were part of the missions’ community, the military, the diplomatic corps, and international corporations, it was their children who caught her attention. She understood that they experienced both the benefits and challenges of being a TCK, but that their lives weren’t like those of their peers in their passport culture.

Because of her position at MSU, Useem was able not only to study TCKs herself, but to encourage and direct research by others. Her students produced nine dissertations starting in the 1960s. Over the years (1968-1986), more than 30 dissertations and research studies were conducted by students of Dr. Useem. 1 (Cottrell, 2009).

During the early years, the literature on TCKs was dominated by insightful personal reflections and autobiographical pieces

by ATCKs who generally were trying to process, understand and describe their childhood experiences. Research was needed. Consequently, Useem and others conducted research studies to expand the understanding of TCKs and their lives, choices, and the implications of their childhood experiences. They also shifted their research focus to more than just returning to the States to start college to questions of identity, the impact of sponsoring organizations, etc. 2 (Cottrell, 2009).

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MK-CART/CORE Era of MK Research (1987-2000) It was during this period (1968-1986) that the first research began in the mission’s community. Initially, several studies were conducted, and dissertations published. In the 1980s, two separate and unrelated tracks gave impetus to the creation of MK-CART/CORE. One track was the launching of the Mental Health in Missions conferences. It began as an informal gathering led by Dr. David Wickstrom and Dr. John Powell. Over time, this developed into an annual conference for mental health professionals, caregivers, researchers, and others.

The other track was a series of three International Conference on Missionary Kids (ICMK) that were held in Manila, Quito, and Nairobi during the 1980s. These conferences put a spotlight on the needs of MKs and led to a desire for research-based information.

“There is no evidence of on-going research programs focused on missionary families and children and this area relies on graduate students who conduct one-time studies. A need exists for more collaborative efforts such as the one modeled by MK—CART/CORE” Dale Hawley In March 1987, following the ICMK conference in Quito, MK-CART/CORE was formed. (Dr. David Wickstrom described this in the preceding article as well as the three major studies they conducted: The Boarding School Personnel Study, The Adult Missionary Kids Study, and the Missionary Family Study.) The hope was that the CART/CORE research would give mission organizations

and churches a greater understanding of the TCK experience and lead to a greater, more effective flow of care for MKs and their families. It was also hoped that this understanding would lead to a greater, more effective flow of care for them. In other words, the hope was that care would be driven by the insights and lessons learned through research rather than by anecdotes and assumptions.

The strength of the CART/CORE model was that it came full circle. The mission agencies and the researchers discussed possible questions to be studied. When there was agreement on the question, the researchers would design a study and then together they would gather the data. Then the researchers would analyze the data and report back to the mission agencies. The loop was closed.

multi-mission in nature—over time the number 1. Itof was participating missions grew from eight to eleven.

In addition to the work of CART/CORE, many individual researchers and graduate students have conducted studies on several major themes including:

research was mission-driven—all of the 2. The CART/CORE members shared in developing the research projects and gathering data.

3.

Representatives of the mission agencies were the first to receive the results.

of CORE assisted researchers in order to 4. Members encourage more research in these areas.

MKs themselves and the impact of their childhood 1. The experiences on their identity, career choices, attitudes, decision-making, relationships, emotional development, spiritual growth and overall well-being. In addition, what factors contributed to the success and well-being of adult MKs or contributed to their, bitterness, leaving the faith, and dysfunctionality in their lives and relationships?

of the CORE research team did not receive transition experience and the impact of mobility on 5. Members 2. The any financial remuneration for their work, but their an MK’s identity, belonging, relationships, and the expenses were covered through contributions. 3 (Powell, 2002)

challenges of re-entry especially returning to start college and university.

Changes in MK education and the impact it has had on

3. MKs. In the early years, there was a strong focus on the impact boarding school had on MKs (e.g. qualities needed by teachers and boarding home parents, impact on MK reentry, and on family relationships. Parents have a wide range of options to choose from than generations ago.

Organizational behaviors and how did leadership style,

4. communication styles, on-field support, conflict-

resolution methods, the culture of the organization, etc. impact the lives of missionary families. Did these behaviors contribute to effective service by missionaries and to their well-being or did they contribute to discouragement, reduced effectiveness, resentment and bitterness in missionaries? What can be done to modify these practices or address systemic issues?

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Post MK-CART/CORE Era (2000 to the Present) In the years since CART/CORE stopped operation, there has been a major shift in the research. Today’s research is conducted primarily by graduate students in pursuit of their degrees. Their research may or may not be published. Although this may not seem like a major shift, it is and has important implications.

“MK-CART/CORE is a stellar example of collaborative research and should be held up as a model for others to follow.”

In the post CART/CORE era, there has been some shifts in research topics. Even though some of the themes have continued, new directions have been suggested and pursued. Some of these have included: Continued Research on MKs/TCKs, but with a

1. focus that has expanded to include those coming from new sending countries such as South Korea, the Philippines, Brazil, Colombia, India, China, Nigeria, and other countries. In addition, there are many new opportunities and challenges that must be researched so that decision-makers have an accurate picture of today’s MKs.

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on the Transition Experience has focused 2. Research on the ways in which the lives of MKs have been changed as they have become more mobile, more connected with the rise of the Internet, and part of a shrinking world due to globalization.

Options and Decision-Making—changes 3. Educational in technology have both increased the range and changed the nature of options from the years when boarding school dominated. It raises questions for parents about which option seems to work best for their children and about the long-term effects of these options. In addition, questions about special education needs and second-language issues have also been suggested as MK research topics. on the Effectiveness of the Care Being 4. Research Provided—examining what the impact has been of new programs, tools, assessments, and services now being provided. For example, how have services such as prefield preparation programs, transition seminars, debriefing, mobile care, etc. impacted the well-being, retention, and effectiveness of MKs and missionary families. Are the new programs that have been developed effectively meeting needs?

Where Do We Go From Here?

There have been some good developments in MK and missionary family research over the past 20 years.

“Researchers continue to uncover findings that inform those who work with missionaries on a regular basis. At the same time, there is a lack of cohesiveness in this body of research. There is no evidence of on-going research programs focused on missionary families and children and this area relies on graduate students who conduct onetime studies. A need exists for more collaborative efforts such as the one modeled by MK-CART/ CORE, increased funding to support research in this vital area ... ” 4 (Hawley, 2004) The researchers who have contributed to our knowledge on MKs have provided a valuable service. At the same time, this research only begins to scratch the surface.

Hawley 5 (2004) offered several suggestions about further areas of study: Increase research productivity. Hawley wants to

1. see more research being done and that it be focused more directly on MKs and their families.

2.

Increase accessibility to research results. Hawley is thankful for the quality research being conducted and for their findings but wishes that more of these studies were in the hands of decision makers such as sending agency personnel, international Christian school administrators and others. While some studies have been published, most have not. Even if they have been published, it is often in publications that are expensive or difficult to access.6 (Hawley, 2004) In addition, these publications are not the places where teachers, school administrators, sending agency personnel, and caregivers usually go.

Increase research collaboration. Hawley believes

4. that by banding together researchers will be able to leverage their resources and produce high quality research that will provide valuable information about MKs and their families in order to better equip those who work with them as they develop programs, policies and a greater flow of care. Hawley points to MK-CART/CORE as an outstanding example of collaborative research that provides an excellent model for others to follow. 8 (Hawley, 2004) We need to close the loop in terms of research on MKs and missionary families. Great information, connections, and findings have come out of these years of research.

Unfortunately, they haven’t necessarily made it to the people whose actions and decisions impact the lives of MKs and families. First, we need to close the loop and get more research shared in places that key decision-makers regularly access so that it can shape and direct their actions. If we are to expand the flow of care that sending agencies provide, it must be guided by research. If we are to equip schools to better serve their students, it must be guided by research.

Second, we need to close the loop on research by returning to the collaborative research model of MK-CART/CORE as Hawley explained. (Hawley, 2004) Interact is eager to help in closing the loop on research and expanding the flow 9 of care. We welcome submission of articles on various research topics so that these findings can more easily get to those who are in a position to act on it.

Develop on-going research programs that

3. investigate missionary families and MKs. There doesn’t seem to be any group like MK-CART/CORE that is willing to conduct on-going research programs focused on MKs or missionary families. Some have suggested that Christian graduate school programs and professors could lead the efforts to conduct this type of research. Not only could they conduct the research, but they have graduate students who could be an enormous help of this process. This approach could greatly expand the amount of research being done, but funding, encouragement and support will be needed.7 (Hunter, 2002)

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Janet Blomberg Janet Blomberg has served with Interaction International since the early 1990s She has served as Director of Educational Services, on the staff of many Interaction programs and as Executive Director. She was the founder and editor of Interact both then and now. She launched and served as the first Director of AERC which serves and supports families in Asia who are homeschooling, using national schools or online programs to educate their children. Janet has spoken at many conferences globally on issues facing MKs/TCKs and their families. She is a passionate advocate on their behalf and has advised parents on meeting the needs of their children. She co-edited the book, Fitted Pieces, with Dr. David Brooks as well as written numerous articles and contributed chapters to several other books.

1. Cottrell, Ann. (2009, February 2). TCK Research: A Look Back and Ahead. TCK Research Network News.

2. Cottrell, Ann (2009).

3. Powell, J. R. (2002). MK-CART/CORE: A Multi-Mission Research Model. In Powell, J. R. & Bowers, J. M. (Eds.) Enhancing Missionary Vitality. (p. 489). Colorado: Missions Training International.

4. Hawley, Dale. H. (2004). Research on Missionary Kids and Families: A Critical Review. Mission Resource Network. (mrnet.org).

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5. Hawley (2004).

6. Hawley (2004).

7. Hunter, W.F. (2002). Research in mental health and missions. In J.R. Powell & J.M. Bowers (Eds.), Enhancing Missionary Vitality. (pp.

475-483). Colorado: Missions Training International.

8. Hawley (2004).

9. Hawley (2004).

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Coming in the Next Issue . . .

Crisis is a common reality for internationally mobile families. COVID-19 is just the latest challenge that MKs are facing. Whether it’s evacuation, civil war, political unrest, kidnapping, acts of terrorism, natural disasters, accidents or some other traumatic event, these realities are not new for MKs or their families.

The next issue of Interact will include articles on: Coping with COVID 19 How COVID 19 is Impacting MKs/TCKs Screen Time in the Era of COVID-19 Evacuation Post-Traumatic Stress Helping Children Cope with Crisis and Evacuation Book Review, Resources and Research

Calling All Writers and Researchers!

Join the global conversation on important issues in MK care and education. Whether you’re a teacher/administrator, sending agency personnel, caregiver/counselor, parent or whatever your role, share your thoughts, ideas, resources and research. Join the conversation taking place in the pages of Interact and submit an article.

We welcome your submissions.

Send them to interact@interactionintl.org

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